🧵1 The footage displays Oct. 8. D.C.’s drop boxes opened Oct. 9 at 11 a.m. Soldiers beside a ballot drop box. In Washington, D.C. Who the hell ordered this? You should never have to wonder whether troops are watching you vote. Commanders owe voters answers. Put the orders on the record.

From 2017 to 2024, rates of violence in Maine prisons fell 36% and rates of staff use of force fell 69%. New research finds the Maine Model is off to a strong start, though more work is needed to achieve its goals. bit.ly/4hlKmM0

Improving Maine’s Prisons

An early look at correctional transformation in Maine shows promise. While there is more work to do, other states should consider adopting similar reforms for their own systems.

brennancenter.org

RFK Jr. received "more than $250,000 worth of free flights to Fiji and Greece as well as use of a vacation home in Washington, D.C. from Gavin de Becker..." de Becker has been described as Jeff Bezo's "top security staffer" www.wsj.com/politics/rfk...

Exclusive | RFK Jr. Got Free Flights to Fiji and Greece From a Top Donor

The health secretary disclosed over $250,000 in gifts from security specialist Gavin de Becker.

wsj.com

Texans, vote for Gina Hinojosa for Governor! Out with hot wheels and in with high heels. @ginafortexas.bsky.social ginafortexas.com

==================== TROY JACKSON for MAINE ==================== HOW TO HELP: ✨Donate to: JacksonForMaine.com ✨Sign up to help with any of over 120 Maine Dem canvass events happening around Maine the next two weeks. Find your town here: 👉 www.mobilize.us?country=US&o... #MEpolitics

NWSA (National Women’s Studies) conference feels important given the massive threat we are experiencing AND the carbon I will use by flying feels wrong to spend. Train is bananas long and expensive, driving an EV possible but also 18+ hours each way. What will/would you do? #climate

my latest: Massachusetts is one of the safest states for trans people—but multiple hospitals preemptively ended youth trans care over Trump admin threats to cut fed funding. on Wed, trans activists took their HRT at a govt office and refused to leave without a commitment to fight those hospitals.

Even in safe-haven Massachusetts, trans care is at risk. Young people are fighting to protect it

Activists are calling on the state attorney general to take action against hospitals that have ended gender-affirming care programs after Trump retook office

theguardian.com

ICE wrongfully arrested him. Will his lawsuit change how courts hold agents accountable?

Bivens lawsuit in Maine aims to hold DHS agents accountable

As courts winnow legal path to sue federal officers, attorneys search for new avenues in state law.

pressherald.com

If you want to do something to keep youth athletes safe it isn’t demonizing trans youth. It’s demonizing sexual violence and holding those who perpetrate it accountable.

ProPublica@propublica.org · last mo.

Reporter Molly Hensley-Clancy has already identified eight youth sports coaches who are still working with kids despite having been banned by SafeSport, a center created by Congress to protect kids from abuse in sports. She's not done. Here’s how you can help.

“I probably got my period in 1973, which was when Roe passed. My whole reproductive life was lived safely within the confines of Roe v. Wade, and my kids don’t have that.” - Sarah Mahoney, Arrowsic, Maine #MESen #mepolitics #VoteBlue Elect @troyjackson207.bsky.social

Women who remember life before Roe are turning away from Susan Collins

Many women in their 60s who backed the Republican incumbent for years now point to her role in confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court as the moment when she lost their trust.

19thnews.org

Protesters in Danbury are demanding ICE get out and to shut down operations. The Danbury community is not backing down. 62 fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters, sisters taken in four days. Goons tasing neighbors, breaking windows, arresting parents in front of their children.

Will RFK, Jr. turn out to be America’s Most Successful Serial Killer? MAGIC EIGHTBALL: “Outlook good.”

Prepping for teaching fall 2026 and struggling to cut content to a reasonable level. I love that I still find gender fascinating but there is so so so much to intro - would love to hear how others are structure courses in the age of overwhelm?

"Women accounted for 100 percent of the decline in the labor force in July, according to a National Women’s Law Center analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s latest dismal jobs report. Overall, the economy lost 23,000 jobs in July: Women lost 32,000 jobs, while men gained 9,000."

Trump’s Terrible July Jobs Numbers Only Hurt Women

And the number of women who have left the workforce since January is more than double the number of men.

newrepublic.com

Judith Enek is so funny - and so smart! @beyondplastics.bsky.social offers model legislation and a lot of solutions

I delivered all 3 of my kids at hospitals that no longer provide labor and delivery care. Maine has lost 10 birthing units in just the past decade. While I appreciate the challenges hospitals like Lincoln face, closing this unit would be devastating for patients, workers, and Midcoast communities.

Dozens rally in Portland ahead of MaineHealth board vote on closure of birthing unit in Damariscotta

MaineHealth says it's considering the closure because of staffing challenges and low birth rates.

mainepublic.org

He wants us to forget the #EpsteinFiles The survivors deserve justice. The #EpsteinBookmobile is ready to hit the road, and you can help! www.defiance.org/bookmobile

Help to fund The Trump and Epstein Memorial Bookmobile — DEFIANCE.org

Most Americans will never have the chance to read them. so we're bringing them to the American people.

defiance.org

Somewhere a university academic is being told to "do more with less" by someone whose job title didn't exist two reorgs ago.

I am SOO proud to be Board President of @educateusaction.bsky.social- doing incredible work ousting Moms for Liberty from School Boards and building a national movement to demand the sex ed our schools need and deserve. And we're 5 YEARS OLD! Celebrate with us! educateusaction.org/5thbirthdayp...

Celebrate with us! • EducateUS

The EducateUS 5th Birthday Party! Can you believe we're turning 5 years old this August? So much has changed since we launched in 2021, and the years have

educateusaction.org

I am always trying to explain to folks that most Americans have never met a Jew and people do not believe me and I just need you to understand that the perception that we are a powerful group in this country is intentionally created by antisemites and you’re unknowingly buying in.

Joel S.@joelhs.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This actually explains something about how people talk about the Jewish community.

Mainers, this is coming to Portland Museum of Art!

Ms. Magazine@msmagazine.com · 3mo ago

Directed by Chase Joynt, 'State of Firsts' offers a behind-the-scenes look at McBride’s journey to becoming the first openly transgender elected official in the U.S. Congress.

Communications experts is there any effective way to say, “duh” as an invitation to care/help change rather than a finger wag? The socialization into male violence, militarization, and connection between “State, Street and Home” is well documented - it’s the goal of male supremacy.

NPR@npr.org · 3mo ago

Ashley Brouillette has identified her ex-husband, David Brouillette, as the officer who fatally shot Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday. She said she learned he was the officer responsible when he called her on Wednesday. n.pr/44xGCBl

This makes me excited for Maine families and how dads might experience fatherhood differently than their fathers and the fathers before them. Maine’s Paid Leave program a gift to future generations

Paid Leave for All@paidleaveforall.bsky.social · 3mo ago

“We're in a very different place in terms of our understanding of gender roles, of paternity leave, of dads' roles than we were twenty plus years ago,” said Molly Weston Williamson, policy director at Paid Leave for All. laist.com/news/educati...

How many more summer days have to be stolen before we stop pretending this is natural? How many unprecedented disasters must be explained before the explanation is allowed to stick?

Another summer day, stolen

What are we still waiting to learn?

heated.world

Yes, I am the oddball who built a Corsi-Rosenthal box a couple of years ago when we had big wildfires in western Kansas that sent smoke our way. Took about an hour. Works great. Impressed the construction team we had out at our house on unrelated issues. engineering.ucdavis.edu/news/science...

Watching Maine Dems debate for Maine Senate / love the plain speak from our candidates about the essentialness of abolishing ICE. I’m team Shenna! www.bellowsformaine.com

Shenna Bellows for Maine | Join the Movement

Support Shenna Bellows campaign for U.S. Senate! Learn about her leadership, values, and plans to improve communities. Join the campaign today.

bellowsformaine.com

Democrats need Shenna Bellows for Maine

Danielle Kurtzleben@titonka.bsky.social · 3mo ago

One hell of a conversation. Go listen!

Dangerous record-breaking heat linked to climate change could be somewhat moderated this week by the presence of dangerous wildfire smoke in the air linked to climate change. Do I have that right?

Dangerous smoke from Canadian wildfires moves into the Great Lakes and Northeast | CNN

Wildfires in Canada are pouring thick clouds of smoke into the US and will usher in unhealthy air quality for millions of people in Northeast and Midwest.

cnn.com

This isn't even about opportunity, however. It's about promotions that were earned and accorded in a process Hegseth is inserting himself in. Hegseth Blocks Promotions for More Women Done.

James Fallows@jfallows.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Writing headlines is hard. You have to compress an article into a phrase or two. And you have to fit an exact and usually inconvenient line space. Two images below: What the NYT is running on line. (h/t @jaywillis.net for calling this one out.) And what would fit exactly the same space, by me.

Getting a pep talk from @ejeancarroll.bsky.social - Ask E. Jean movie streaming now