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Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Ph.D.,

@jeffersonlenskyj.bsky.social

Toronto Canada/Sydney Australia. Activist, author, researcher, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto helenlenskyj.ca My latest book: *THE QUEST FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE IN SPORT* Emerald, 2025 My next book *CENSORSHIP, POLITICS AND SPORT*

138 Posts447 Follower207 Folgt
Alissa Walker@awalkerinla.bsky.social · yesterday

I'll try to find out more about this FIFA situation but remember that LA had a different legacy commitment from U.S. Soccer announced at the start of the World Cup that we haven't heard too much more about either. From my story here: www.torched.la/as-las-parks...

We always knew these megaevents weren't going to fix our public spaces, but we didn't expect our councilmembers to abandon them as well. The contradiction stings as money pours into our public spaces via brand activations — Nike throwing a soccer party in the empty Griffith Park Pool was a particularly wrenching gut-punch — leaving behind dubious benefits. The original Summer Olympics bid promised "new community green spaces" for LA, but the only guaranteed legacy coming from LA28 — youth sports lessons — actually expires in 2028. Even the details of LA's World Cup legacy program with U.S. Soccer, announced by Bass last week, are perplexingly vague: "strengthening youth soccer opportunities and supporting affordable, community-based programming." (A previous "investment" by U.S. Soccer in partnership with World Cup sponsors Adidas and Kaiser Permanente resulted in an asphalt — yes, asphalt - soccer field at an LAUSD school.)
Alissa Walker@awalkerinla.bsky.social · yesterday

"According to four executives at U.S. host city committees... FIFA management repeatedly assured the cities they would receive the same $1 million contribution towards legacy, despite no public statement ever being made by the organization"

Alissa Walker@awalkerinla.bsky.social · yesterday

Fantastic reporting here by Libby Rainey that confirms what we've been hearing about the "clean zones" around LA28 venues: "Carter Hewgley, chief strategy officer for L.A. County’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing, said his office had been told to plan for perimeters as wide as a mile"

The LA Olympics is expected to displace unhoused people living around venues. So what's the plan?

L.A. officials say people living on the streets will likely have to leave certain areas come 2028. They don't know how they'll be moved or who will pay for it.

laist.com

Sydney Bauer@sydney-bauer.com · 3d ago

When we talk about who gets the privilege to get to the starting line of athletic competition being a political decision, this is what we mean.

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 3d ago

An initiative on the ballot in Washington state in November would require all athletes seeking to play girl's sports from kindergarten to high school to undergo "genetic screening, a testosterone-levels test, or an examination of their reproductive anatomy" before they can play

The Campaign to Force Genital Exams on Girl Athletes Soon Washington State could require sex-verification tests for those playing sports in schools. Portrait of Andrea González-Ramírez By Andrea González-Ramírez, a senior writer for The Cut who covers systems of power.
Guardian Australia@australia.theguardian.com · last wk.

The real love story behind Colin from Accounts: ‘I wouldn’t want to write with anyone else’

The real love story behind Colin from Accounts: ‘I wouldn’t want to write with anyone else’

As the show takes its final bow, Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer reflect on ‘having a ball’ playing exes while being married with kids, ignoring notes from US TV executives and having ‘big old cries’ at the end It began, as all great romances do, with a nipple flash. When Colin from Accounts, the little comedy that could, started airing back in 2022, the world fell in love – hard and fast. It was a surprisingly prickly Australian show about Ashley, a student doctor (Harriet Dyer), and Gordon, an older, brewery owner (Patrick Brammall), who fall in love after she pops a boob at him, he hits a dog with his car, and they jointly land an astronomical vet bill and a new pet. The show shared its name with its furriest star – full name: “Colin from accounts payable, who is working on the big merger” – and it was as charming as the title suggested, winning fans across Hollywood and the world. That Brammall and Dyer were actually a couple, now married with two kids and a dog (no wheels), just made everyone love the show even more. Continue reading...

theguardian.com

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Ph.D.,@jeffersonlenskyj.bsky.social · last wk.

I just finished my book on Censorship, Politics and Sport (Emerald, 2027), and thought a lot about these questions while writing - documenting *everything* and at the same time avoiding anticipatory self-censorship...

Matt Hodler@mhodler.bsky.social · last wk.

Been thinking about this a lot as I start my book project (on Barstool): Will I pull my punches due to fear of harassment? Is my fear overblown or just due to a position of relative comfort? How much has/will it shape topics I explore? What are differences between self-censoring & careful writing?

Dave Zirin@edgeofsports.bsky.social · 2w ago

My latest with Jules @thenation.com Trump just soils everything he touches. "Trump’s Reverse Midas Touch Even Got the World Cup" www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Trump’s Reverse Midas Touch Even Got the World Cup

Of course fans roundly booed the president at the World Cup final: Damaging the integrity of anything he touches is true to the Trump brand.

thenation.com

Jules Boykoff@julesboykoff.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Trump regime weaponized the 2026 World Cup to advance cruelty & brutality from beginning to end—the cruelty, as we’ve long learned, is often the point. My latest with @edgeofsports.bsky.social for @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 3w ago

Don't fall for this. Rowling wants trans people to self censor and to stop sharing the report. If this report really was as defamatory as she claims, she wouldn't be cheering on its spread. What she really wants is a costly settlement from AI UK, humiliating apology, and permanent silence.

​A screenshot of a thread on X (formerly Twitter). The main post is a quote tweet by J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling), which reads: ​"Shout out to all trans activists sharing the blacklist of women's and gay rights organisations published by @AmnestyUK! You're demonstrating very effectively that in spite of their hasty backtrack it can be easily accessed forevermore, increasing legal liability. Thank you! ❤️" ​Rowling is quote-tweeting a user named Lesbian Lenin 🇵🇸 🔻 🇵🇸 (@xstaffsuck), whose post reads: ​"The report btw, documenting how TERF orgs work hand in hand w/ anti-abortionists, christian nationalists, & anti-LGBT+ (yes, you too, c*s queers!) orgs to push trans genocide ​To be anti-trans is to be anti-abortion, is to be a christian nazi, is to be anti-queer ​Report is below" ​The user @xstaffsuck is, in turn, quoting an earlier tweet from J.K. Rowling, which reads: ​"Should any of the women's organisations targeted by @AmnestyUK's recent 'anti-rights' blacklist wish to take legal action, applications can be made to the JK Rowling Women's Fund. jkrwf.org"
Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 4w ago

Amnesty International put out a major report documenting the influence of UK based anti trans gender critical organizations and their funding. Within hours, GC groups threatened defamation lawsuits and Amnesty was forced to pull it down. Proving the point they're anti rights. Anyways, here it is.

Erin Reed@erininthemorning.com · 2mo ago

1. This article has made waves. I have tried to push Mayor Mamdani to be better in my reporting, and I am sad that it has not worked. I have seen many questions about this story, and I want to talk about some of them. Read on.

Erin Reed@erininthemorning.com · 2mo ago

1. In a move that is likely to be seen as capitulation to Trump, EITM can confirm that Mamdani's first ever trans direct care clinic will deny care to those under 19 years of age, the age from Trump's anti-trans EOs. It is a far cry from his pledge to "use every tool" to fight capitulation.

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Ph.D.,@jeffersonlenskyj.bsky.social · 2mo ago

An academic who didn't want to waste time "writing sentences from scratch" and used AI instead is not an academic 🙄https://www.smh.com.au/national/uni-academic-admits-she-used-ai-to-write-opinion-piece-in-defence-of-ai-20260602-p6038j.html

‘Odd choices of words’: How an academic’s AI use was exposed by her peers

Western Sydney University has acknowledged that the opinion piece, published by this masthead, was AI-generated using the author’s previous work.

smh.com.au

Mother Jones@motherjones.com · 2mo ago

“The principles I hold dear are gone,” 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley said after getting fired Tuesday night for criticizing Bari Weiss’ leadership at CBS News the day before, as submitting to President Donald Trump’s whims. “And so I must leave.”

“The waste is heartbreaking”: fired Scott Pelley accuses CBS of courting Trump

His parting shot at CBS News describes a newsroom remade in Trump's image—and a teenager's Emmy speech that saw it coming.

motherjones.com

Harsha Walia@harshawalia.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is also precisely why calls to use borders amd visa denials against zionist and far-right actors consistently fails. The border is not a neutral architecture that can somehow be repurposed for left purposes. The border is a racist, colonial system that will systematically target as intended.

Sherrilyn Ifill@sifill.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Again, please share. In every aspect of American history you will run smack dab into the critical contributions of Black people. It’s not Black history. It’s American history. Trying to erase it is a fool’s errand. We live it every day. time.com/5836444/blac...

The Forgotten Black History of How Memorial Day Started

Historians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers' graves in 1865

time.com

Ketan Joshi@ketanjoshi.co · 3mo ago

My people you are allowed to link to the articles and you SHOULD do that because outlets like @motherjones.com and @wired.com and journalists like @mollytaft.com who wrote it all benefit from those visit Don't be like the techbros! www.motherjones.com/politics/202... www.wired.com/story/chevro...

Chevron seeks huge tax break to build a power plant exclusively for a Texas data center

It would emit more CO2 than the entire nation of Jamaica.

motherjones.com

The Serfs (youtube.com/theserfstv)@theserfstv.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Using public funds to purchase our own deaths. Data centers that will emit more CO2 than the entire nation state of Jamaica.

Environment May 14, 2026 Chevron Seeks Huge Tax Break to Build a Power Plant for a Texas Data Center It would emit more CO2 than the entire nation of Jamaica.
CN Lester 🏳️‍⚧️@cnlester.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Every trans-supporting cis person in the UK needs to make peace with becoming more annoying, persistent, and pedantic than they ever thought possible. EHRC guidance is full of contradictions - they're relying on transphobic compliance out of fear. DON'T GIVE IT TO THEM