Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
@mejomelissa.bsky.social
2.9K followers 1.7K following 4.2K posts
Mom of awesome 👨🏼‍💻🙋🏼👩🏼‍🏫 Wife of wonderful Army vet. Democrat. Davidson College & UVA Law alumna. Public school tutor. Moms Demand advocate. Armchair musher with #UglyDogs.
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mejomelissa.bsky.social
Hey Virginia! Time to vote for public servants who will work for our families (and NOT for billionaires who want to steal our data and destroy our government). Elect @abigailspanberger.com, @senatorhashmi.bsky.social, @jonesjay.bsky.social, & your Democratic state representative! 🗳️🗽🇺🇸
fairfaxdemocrats.bsky.social
Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi, and James Walkinshaw came to rally with Moms Demand Action, members of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee and local Democratic voters to emphasize their plans for addressing job losses, the worsening economy and putting our students first.
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
tonichelle.bsky.social
Bethel Community Services Foundation has an Amazon Wishlist of immediate needs.

www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...
Check out my list on Amazon
www.amazon.com
mejomelissa.bsky.social
Would pay per view this channel (proceeds to charity of Mona’s choice)
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
pressley.house.gov
It is alarming that the Trump Admin & rogue ICE agents would abduct a 13-year-old child from Everett, transport him to a facility over 500 miles away & reportedly subject him to harrowing conditions.

They must stop violating our constitutional rights.

My full statement:
A graphic that reads:

“It is absolutely alarming that the Trump Administration and its rogue ICE agents would abduct a 13-year-old child, transport him to a facility over 500 miles away without his family, lawyer or a court knowing, and reportedly subject him to harrowing, inhumane conditions, including inadequate nutrition and sleeping on a concrete floor with an aluminum blanket while still healing from a broken foot.
 
“He is a 7th-grader who should have been met with compassion and care, not criminalized and sent to an adult prison.
 
“The Trump Administration must stop violating the constitutional rights of our constituents. I join the chorus of community voices demanding basic adherence to due process, preservation of this child’s constitutional rights, and his immediate return to his family.”
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
mississippifreepress.org
SOLUTIONS: "[T]he newsrooms I direct have rejected sensational, episodic, bleeds-it-leads crime coverage, instead committing to deep solutions reporting on evidence-based violence prevention,” Donna Ladd writes.
A Decade of Reporting on Violence Solutions
Donna Ladd writes about rejecting “sensational, episodic, bleeds-it-leads crime coverage” in favor of solutions.
buff.ly
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
mississippifreepress.org
“I shouldn’t have to text my parents to tell them I’m safe every time there’s a shooting near my school,” said Eshah Green-Ortega, a volunteer with the Jackson State chapter of Students Demand Action.
Nine Dead, at Least 20 Injured in Shootings Across 5 Mississippi Counties
Six people are confirmed dead and at least 12 others injured in three separate shootings in Mississippi on the night of Friday, Oct. 10.
buff.ly
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
bcfinucane.bsky.social
The administration is reframing migrants and gang members as “terrorists”, so DHS wannabe operators can do GWOT-style night raids here in the U.S. of A.
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
Remember when Stephen Miller claimed the Chicago apartment raid was on a building “filled with Tren de Aragua terrorists”?

Well, DHS has now dropped the number of alleged TdA members arrested in the building from 2 to 1.
Just one "verified" Tren de Aragua member and one U.S. citizen with an active warrant were among the 37, DHS said, without saying how it had verified that gang affiliation. Others taken that day, the agency said, were "illegal aliens."
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
noupside.bsky.social
I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?
Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago.
The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
briantylercohen.bsky.social
Breaking: Text messages of Young Republican groups across the country have just been leaked.

They talk about putting Democrats in “gas chambers,” attacking “Jews,” calling Black people “watermelon people,” calling to “rape” their enemies, and bringing back slavery.
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
nycjayjay.bsky.social
Good for Sky Harbor! Let’s see more airports follow suit. That’s six now I know of including others in Las Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Charlotte and New York’s Westchester County.
mejomelissa.bsky.social
Please sign y’all! Free & easy way to holler at your Senators!
resist.bot
🖋️ “Reinstate the Special Education Professionals NOW” hit 500 signers!

💬 Text SIGN PAWZEU to 50409
Reinstate the Special Education Professionals NOW
Text SIGN PAWZEU to 50409 — Congress must act immediately to reinstate the Department of Education’s special education staff, nearly all of whom were laid off last week. These professionals are the backbone of the Office for Special Education Programs, which oversees $15 billion in federal support for 7.5 million students with disabilities. Their abrupt dismissal cripples the federal government’s ability to uphold the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and safeguard the rights of infants, children, and youth with disabilities. This isn’t just a bureaucratic reshuffle—it’s a moral failure. Targeting programs for children with disabilities is cruel and callous, especially from a regime that once claimed to be a champion for those same families. Parents struggling to ensure their children receive a fair education now face a federal government that has abandoned them. It’s clear these cuts are part of a political strategy to punish the public during the shutdown and shift blame elsewhere. But Americans see through it. The people responsible for this decision are millionaires and billionaires who have no idea what these families endure. Meanwhile, the Trump regime found room for a $20 billion loan to Argentina while dismantling protections for children with disabilities. Congress must intervene now: restore every special education position, fund these offices fully, and ensure no administration can again use a shutdown to gut civil rights obligations. Disabled children and their families deserve better than this cruelty disguised as cost-cutting.
resist.bot
mejomelissa.bsky.social
Click on CR Report link which includes petition for FDA to limit LEAD in supplements!
paris.nyc
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports
CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.
www.consumerreports.org
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
paris.nyc
lastly, a common rebuttal to contaminant reporting is that there are unavoidable levels of lead in lots of foods. some context:

taking just one serving of one of the powders we tested would expose you to 45% more lead than the average american gets from everything they eat/drink in a day combined
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
paris.nyc
i feel like this story is particularly important right now, because protein-maxxing is *so* in vogue. before working on this, i believed i was woefully protein deficient

it turns out that's just a myth that has been floating around for decades—the average american gets more than enough protein!!
mejomelissa.bsky.social
Failure of our food safety laws
paris.nyc
i was surprised to learn that bc most protein powders are considered dietary supplements, they basically fall into a regulatory grey area

there's no federal limit on the amount of lead they can contain and neither manufacturers nor the FDA have to prove these products are safe before they're sold
Protein powders and shakes, like all dietary supplements, fall into something of a regulatory gray area.

There is no federal limit specifying the amount of lead allowed in protein powders. And while the FDA requires that manufacturers keep their products free of harmful contaminants, it largely leaves it up to companies to decide what counts as harmful and test their own products for compliance.

Before 1994, manufacturers had to prove herbal products were safe before selling them. That changed after Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. The law sharply limited the FDA’s authority, leaving supplements far less regulated than drugs.

Today, supplements are “presumed safe unless found otherwise,” says Cohen at Harvard Medical School, and most products face scrutiny only after reaching the market—meaning unsafe or contaminated supplements can reach consumers before problems are caught.
mejomelissa.bsky.social
Good grief.
paris.nyc
two of the products we tested — Huel's Black Edition meal replacement powder and Naked Nutrition's vegan mass gainer — had enough lead that our experts caution against using them at all

a single serving of these protein powders contained between 1,200 and 1,600% of CR’s level of concern for lead
Two plant-based protein powders contained enough lead that our experts advise against consuming them. Naked Nutrition’s Mass Gainer powder contained 7.7 micrograms of lead per serving, which is roughly 1,570 percent of CR’s level of concern for the heavy metal. One serving of Huel’s Black Edition powder contained 6.3 micrograms of lead, or about 1,290 percent of CR’s daily lead limit.

Two other powders contained lead between 400 and 600 percent of CR’s level of concern: Garden of Life’s Sport Organic Plant-Based Protein and Momentous’ 100% Plant Protein. Consumers should limit these to once a week, Akinleye says. (See company responses below.)

The only non-plant-based protein powder with lead detected at over 200 percent of CR’s level of concern was MuscleMeds’ Carnivor Mass powder. Six additional plant-based powders, five dairy-based powders and shakes, and one beef powder contained lead above CR’s level of concern.

We also found measurable levels of cadmium and inorganic arsenic in some products. One serving of Huel’s Black Edition plant-based protein powder contained 9.2 micrograms of cadmium, more than double the level that public health authorities and CR’s experts say may be harmful to have daily, which is 4.1 micrograms. 

Another plant-based option, Vega’s Premium Sport powder, had enough cadmium that one serving would also put you just over that level. In one dairy-based product, Optimum Nutrition’s Serious Mass whey protein powder, we also detected 8.5 micrograms per serving of inorganic arsenic, which is twice the limit of what our scientists say is safe to consume daily.
mejomelissa.bsky.social
Wowza. We should regulate supplements for safety!
paris.nyc
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports
CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.
www.consumerreports.org
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
jamellebouie.net
a real water is wet scenario here
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
votesaveamerica.crooked.com
Good news! Get your good news!
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
Reposted by Melissa Bones Spellczynski 🎃
marcelias.bsky.social
The is literally nothing more American and patriotic than declaring: No Kings.