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Jessica McKenzie

@jessimckenzi.bsky.social

12K followers 3.4K following 2.3K posts

editing & reporting climate stories @thebulletin.org // outdoorsy newsletter: http://pinchofdirt.substack.com // tips: [email protected] or [email protected] or jessimckenzi.01 on signal

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · Aug 18

A few assorted observations from my latest story about wildfires in Greece: thebulletin.org/2025/08/a-pe...

A perfect firestorm: The social, political, and climate forces that keep Athens burning

Athens and its suburbs have lost 37 percent of its forests and grasslands to wildfire since 2017. What will it take to keep the city from burning?

thebulletin.org

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Reposted by Jessica McKenzie

Caitlin G. DeAngelis @caitlindeangelis.bsky.social · 6h

ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...

Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility
By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago

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A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo.

The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview.

“My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese.

From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett.

The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 8h

well that was more boring than expected

Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 8h

personally feel weird that a certain publication had to ask a good friend of hers for their contrarian pro-bari take. they couldn't find any dispassionate strangers to take that on??

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 8h

don't mind me just logging on for my now part time job of reading bari think pieces

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Reposted by Jessica McKenzie

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 1d

A lawsuit alleges a Black postal worker died after officers ignored clear signs he was suffering from a massive stroke, believing his medical emergency was drugs

The suit says guards left him helpless on a jail cell floor in his own urine for hours

KARE 11 Investigates: Postal worker died after police mistook stroke for drug impairment

Kingsley Bimpong was jailed instead of hospitalized; video shows guards ignored his suffering for hours.

www.kare11.com

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

"a post on social media" may take the cake

Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

LOL i have been chuckling over "Magnets" too

Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

lol this is not what i thought that word meant. i thought it was more along the lines of pompous, bombastic, or absurdly aggro, not just aggressive.

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

"Stock markets dropped after Trump’s bellicose Truth Social post about China, in which he said that “there is no way that” country “should be allowed to hold the World ‘captive’” with its rare earth policy." www.cnbc.com/2025/10/10/t...

I thought this one was p good until I looked bellicose up...

Trump threatens 'massive' tariff hike on China over rare earths dispute

Stock markets dropped on Trump's bellicose Truth Social post that said China is "becoming very hostile" in seeking tough export controls on rare earths.

www.cnbc.com

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

"China has become "very hostile" on trade matters, Trump said in a bombshell Truth Social post." — Steve Kopack/NBC News www.nbcnews.com/business/eco...

Trump threatens China with new tariffs and 'countermeasures'

On Thursday, China announced a series of new limits on the trade of rare earths and technologies related to them.

www.nbcnews.com

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

"LENGTHY POST" does not begin to capture it! although it is, technically, accurate (do i need to review the precise/accurate distinction again?)

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

what kind of fever dream is this?? and these posts are just taken in stride by reporters?

Yahoo reporter's understated description of the above: "Trump unloaded on China and its leader, Xi Jinping, in a lengthy post on Truth Social on Friday. "

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

.........I don't think we talk enough about how insane it is that the country is ruled by someone who issues word salad proclamations with erratic capitalization on their own personal social network, which is called Truth Social

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

White House says they've started firing gov't workers because of the shutdown.

Zero detail on which agencies are immediately affected

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

White House Says Government Layoffs Have Begun

OMB chief Russell Vought made the announcement on social media as the shutdown continued.

www.wsj.com

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

I think, going back to my original question of 'is it a useful descriptor?,' is that for people who read and think about nature and science a lot, pointing out that such and such an animal is an ecosystem engineer feels obvious! so it kind of blends in..

Reposted by Jessica McKenzie

Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 3d

so grateful to mostly have my hands full with fact checking and editing this week because my brain is not in a good place for reporting/writing at the mo--

but i want that to change!

so idk, if anyone on here has tips or story ideas for me, reach out... i need some good inspo!!!

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

that's a good one but i feel like most newsletter clients now are optimized for phone thankfully...

Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

OOOOOOh ok that makes sense! Genuinely thank you!

Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

This does apply more to 100% free newsletters...I think the calculus may be a bit different if people are spending money and think they deserve a certain output, but even so, I think making excuses is a boring use of your/their time...

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

And subsequently I've noticed this as well, especially in the casual newsletters of friends or acquaintances...your readers (who may also be friends, or internet friends) don't really care why you haven't been keeping to your schedule, they're just excited to hear what you have to say next!

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

😭 I don't have anything else at the moment...

Well maybe one thing. The best advice I ever got from a reader (and friend) was to not apologize when I sent an email late or missed a week for personal reasons. Basically she said it was unnecessary and also (unspoken but implied) boring to read!

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

"Synergy" isn't really a word that journalists use to describe their work anyway, I don't think, it's more of a word that upper management suits who have never done any journalism would use...

Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

What's a JD? (I'm dead serious about this one should I know this acronym??)

Do you KNOW how many people work at CBS? Rip your inbox...

Did you misuse dashes and emdashes on purpose so people wouldn't say you ChatGPTed this?

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

I have so many questions. Questions like, where is the period at the end of the first graf? Why aren't your tour guides paid? Are they helping you off the clock? That's weird. Maybe the labor department should look into this...

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Jessica McKenzie @jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 2d

lol hierarchical niceties

Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 2d

Here's the full memo.

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