Racheline Maltese

@racheline.bsky.social

Award-winning romance author writing happily ever afters about difficult people with complicated lives. SAG-AFTRA. Figure skater. Former journalist/media analyst. They/them.

The important thing to know about boots is that Dr. Martens was bought by a private equity firm a while back, the boots are now garbage in terms of construction quality, but Solovair set up to make similar boots on the old equipment in the old factory and their versions are much better quality.

Will Wilkinson@wlknsn.xyz · 2h ago

My take on boots discourse is that we face a lemons problem with many consumer goods, given the acquisition of many storied brands by companies aggressively milking accumulated brand equity for higher profits, such that price and reputation for durability does not reliably predict higher roi.

The govt has fired *all* the immigration attorneys representing detained children and given a $150 million contract to a 26-employee MAGA law firm in Texas with ONE immigration attorney. @theyoungcenter.bsky.social's Child Advocates are now the last line of defense for kids in deportation hearings.

26-employee Texas law firm gets $150M to represent 24,000 children in immigration court

None of the Burke Law Group’s lawyers list immigration law as an area of expertise, per the firm’s website.

politico.com

In no particular order, TikTok, fascism, and misogyny. And some of this is absolutely a response to the era where women blogged their truth and cis straight dudes were mad this did not make them horny. Meanwhile, online magazines would pay $50 max for a personal pain expose from a femme.

New York Magazine@nymag.com · 22h ago

On social media, a broad consensus is that you can’t admit to struggle — at least not while you’re struggling. Doing so represents a failure so profound it’s almost existential. How did it become mandatory to demonstrate perpetual growth and progress online?

The most terrifying enshittification I've discovered has been learning that Microsoft Word documents no longer auto-save if you are not saving them to one of their own proprietary cloud services. I'm slapping control-S like it's 1999.

My wife and I are at an apt on the beach that has a Murder She Wrote channel. We have watched all the Murder She Wrote. And discovered that books “by” “JB Fletcher” continue to be published in 2026 and if I wrote mysteries I’d be on the phone with my agent to demand I get in on that IP immediately.

If you are an expert on air quality and have 10-15 minutes to talk to me today or tomorrow about important things journalists should know while reporting on wildfires and smoke, my DMs are open, or you can email me at karen at OpenNews dot org.

In addition to transphobia, this is likely about creating a registry of cis girls in sports and then tracking if sports has an impact on their future fertility (remember, Heritage Foundation wants to eliminate most sports for women due to unscientific concerns about negative impact on fertility)

Gillian Branstetter@gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 2d 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.

DHS told employers it had ended TPS for about 350,000 Haitian immigrants, triggering mass layoffs affecting travel, nursing homes, schools Let go: Nursing assistants, dietary aides, housekeepers, janitors, airplane cabin cleaners, wheelchair attendants, landscapers, bus drivers, security guards

Airports, nursing homes and schools brace for disruption without Haitian workers

The Trump administration and courts are at odds over whether about 350,000 Haitians have officially lost humanitarian protections, but employers are already letting workers go.

washingtonpost.com

Currently at the Jersey shore where we just got buzzed by low-flying military helicopters. The palpable discomfort on the beach was super real. I’ve been coming to this particular spot since I was a child and we see a lot of random aircraft including water rescue copters… never seen this before.