Bruce Lesley

Artistlike (@artistlike) PLEASE WATCH. This is devastating. Irish Parliament is speaking of their citizens in the US being tortured in concentration camps. My thoughts: https://artistlike.substack.com/p/irelands-parliament-...

The world is shocked by how the U.S. is treating people, including children.

substack.com/@artistlike/...

School lunch debt shouldn't exist.

Full stop.

We're humiliating 6-year-olds over $2.75 while giving massive tax breaks to corporations.

This isn't a budget problem. It's a cruelty problem disguised as fiscal responsibility.

First Focus on Children Tells Supreme Court: Ending Birthright Citizenship Would Irreparably Harm Every Baby Born in America National child advocacy organization files amicus brief in Trump v. Barbara, urging the Court to affirm birthright citizenship as a fundamental

First Focus on Children Tells Supreme Court: Ending Birthright Citizenship Would Irreparably Harm Every Baby Born in America firstfocus.org/news/first-f...

Let them eat...checks notes...LIVER?

Catholic bishops push for end to ‘immoral’ birthright citizenship order at Supreme Court The Catholic-majority Supreme Court gets spiritual and legal advice from bishops ahead of showdown on birthright citizenship.

Catholic bishops push for end to ‘immoral’ birthright citizenship order at Supreme Court | Courthouse News Service www.courthousenews.com/catholic-bis...

The State of the Union: Leaving Children and Families Behind Parents listened for a plan, but what they heard was cuts, bureaucracy, xenophobia, and culture wars.

"Children needed a vision of hope and aspiration from the President. What they got was a celebration of what he’s taken from them."

The State of the Union: Leaving Children and Families Behind open.substack.com/pub/bruceles...

Wearing a special tie @savethechildren.org to the State of the Union. We need to do more to support children here and around the world.

ICE is silencing the children of migrant children. There's a reason why Trump didn't mention I.C.E. all that much during his State of the Union Address .

ICE is silencing the children of migrant children.

There's a reason why Trump didn't mention I.C.E. all that much during his State of the Union Address .

I expect President Trump to raise the issue of immigration during his State of the Union address. I want him to know that his mass deportation campaign is breaking children like the little girl who gave me this drawing while I inspected the trailer prison he reopened.

'My children are here’: How journalist Georgia Fort’s arrest impacted her daughters As the Trump administration tries to stop individuals from documenting immigration enforcement, parents are trying to figure out how to explain constitutional rights to their children.

'My children are here’: How journalist Georgia Fort’s arrest impacted her daughters - The 19th 19thnews.org/2026/02/jour...

This highlights the disregard that our government is displaying toward the Constitution and the harm and cruelty it is imposing on children in yet another setting.

The Child Tax Credit in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” did not even cover half of inflation since 2017 and provided just $2,200 for some kids compared to the $5,000 that JD Vance campaigned on.

The Child Tax Credit Changes in H.R. 1 Fail Children and Families open.substack.com/pub/bruceles...

#SOTU

5 Ways the Trump Administration Targeted Children in 2025 by Various Authors

5 Ways the Trump Administration Targeted Children in 2025
open.substack.com/pub/firstfoc...

When Government Sells Fear, Kids Lose Medicaid The Administration’s organized abandonment philosophy is promoting coverage loss, churn, misinformation, and intimidation as policy.

When Government Sells Fear, Kids Lose Medicaid
open.substack.com/pub/bruceles...

Colorado’s family-oriented tax credits gave ‘light and hope’ to one mom — but costs make their future uncertain A study led by researchers at Washington University and Appalachian State University found that the three tax credits helping families lifted more than 52,000 Colorado children out of poverty last …

Colorado tax credits cut child poverty by more than a third - Denver Post

I understand the necessity of parental rights, but when did we decide that anyone under eighteen doesn't get to have rights? When I was seven, I think I had the right not to die of measles. When I was twelve, I think I had the right not to be permanently disabled by polio.

Brace yourself for the return of measles, whooping cough, and hospital emergency room chaos.

Anyone making an argument for "parental rights" fundamentally does not see children as unique, independent people.

Parents have *responsibilities* to their children, not rights to them.

When "Parental Rights" Become a Shield for Child Abuse The Texas Supreme Court case every child advocate must watch

When "Parental Rights" Become a Shield for Child Abuse
open.substack.com/pub/bruceles...

Be Careful What You Ask For: The Parental Rights Trap and the Cost to Children Professor Nila Bala Explains How Expansive Parental Sovereignty Becomes Liability, Isolation, and Organized Abandonment — and Why Children Pay the Price

Great article! Here is my discussion of it…

Be Careful What You Ask For: The Parental Rights Trap and the Cost to Children open.substack.com/pub/bruceles...

When "Parental Rights" Become a Shield for Child Abuse open.substack.com/pub/bruceles...

Agree!

Iowa House Republicans advance bills to eliminate local civil rights protections, allow parents to force LGBTQ kids into 'conversion therapy' - Little Village Republican members of two Iowa House Judiciary subcommittees advanced two bills on Monday that continue the anti-LGBTQ agenda Gov. Kim Reynolds and legislative Republicans have enshrined in state law ...

"Parental rights are being used as a cudgel to enable harm upon children in the name of making them straight,” said Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, the subcommittee's sole Democrat, pointing out the "faulty science" undergirding so-called conversion therapy, banned in 23 states and D.C.

This is a great piece looking at the twisted MAGA ideal of fatherhood, and I'm super excited to join @amandamarcotte.bsky.social today on Standing Room Only to discuss my related article and the intersection of parental rights extremism and fascism newrepublic.com/article/2059...

When "Parental Rights" Become a Shield for Child Abuse The Texas Supreme Court case every child advocate must watch

Agree!

When "Parental Rights" Become a Shield for Child Abuse open.substack.com/pub/bruceles...

Discipline or abuse? This Texas case could change parental rights nationwide. What the Texas Supreme Court decides in this particular case will be enormously consequential in setting a precedent about the scope and limits of parental rights. 

Discipline or abuse? This Texas case could change parental rights nationwide.

New Mexico probes allegation of bodies buried near Epstein ranch The allegation emerged from documents released by the US Department of Justice, that Epstein ordered the bodies of two foreign girls buried outside his remote New Mexico ranch.

Just coincidentally, the family of a billionaire GOP candidate for Texas comptroller now owns Epstein's Zorro Ranch.

The Jamin C. Wight Story: The Other Child Molester in Doug Wilson’s Closet How Doug Wilson and Peter Leithart responded to child predator Jamin C. Wight is not only an atrocity, but a sin.

Doug Wilson protects child molesters.

120 Champions and Defenders of Children: The Lawmakers Who Show Up for Kids Our Scorecard reveals gender and regional patterns that may help explain why child well-being varies so much from state to state.

120 Champions and Defenders of Children: The Lawmakers Who Show Up for Kids
open.substack.com/pub/bruceles...

In the Fight Against ICE, Kids Are on the Front Lines From tear gas attacks to violent abductions, we are collectively witnessing the mass-scale abuse of children. Young people are fighting back.

"We are collectively witnessing the mass-scale abuse of children."

Thank you so much Bruce and First Focus for being a champion for families first. Your take down of the latest anti-family scheme is something we all should be doing.

Thank you @brucelesley.bsky.social @firstfocus.bsky.social for illustrating where U.S. policy must go to cultivate true well-being for pregnant people, young children, and families, based on the evidence in our recent report at @policylabchop.bsky.social.