Melissa Gira Grant
@melissagiragrant.com
100K followers 3.3K following 8.4K posts
staff writer, The New Republic // A WOMAN IS AGAINST THE LAW (Little, Brown) forthcoming // PLAYING THE WHORE (Verso) // member, NewsGuild of NY melissagiragrant.com » [email protected] » tips (encrypted): melissagira.01 on Signal
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melissagiragrant.com
or maybe that "loosening" is meant to communicate that "norms" were all that changed, and this is what was always there, restrained, waiting for an opportunity
melissagiragrant.com
it's striking to see genocidal and white supremacist speech cast in this story as a "loosening of political norms" and not the corrosion or destruction of anything
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
www.politico.com
melissagiragrant.com
I have such fond memories of these little guys (saw them when I did similar trek in Cape Town from Robben Island in 1999)
melissagiragrant.com
Thanks for that. Not knowing how to write through it (through brain fog, PEM…) was among the scarier parts.
melissagiragrant.com
listening to the Covid Year Two/Three/Four episodes of @deathpanel.bsky.social might offer a sense of how that rhetoric developed and entrenched
melissagiragrant.com
Meanwhile, if your plan is based on an accurate assessment of current data… www.statnews.com/2025/10/14/c...
from STAT News:

What may be lost

Potentially among the missing: information about health services, hospitalization, ER visits, office visits, and individual warning signs.

"Anything related to any emerging outbreaks are also going to be compromised," Denys Lau, formerly the director of a division that tracks the nation's health care provision and utilization, told STAT. He is now editor-in chief of the American Journal of Public
Health.

The fruits of NHANES are shared with the public as well as within other federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration. There is nothing flashy about the regular NCHS reports, which…
melissagiragrant.com
Please chill, this is hard enough
melissagiragrant.com
It’s all fear and managing fear badly.
melissagiragrant.com
If you gave up masking long ago, you can start anytime. “But none of my friends do.” Think back: did some of your friends “just disappear” in 2021 and stop planning hang outs with you?
melissagiragrant.com
I would rather get a daily push notification from whoever it is you think is the most annoying person making you feel the worst about not masking than ever having to deal with long Covid, which I’m still recovering from.
melissagiragrant.com
All I can add to the “we reject universal masking” discourse is that it’s not about masks. You aren’t rejecting universal masking, which never happened; you’re rejecting having to think about wearing a mask, and maybe feeling badly about thinking about masks. Can’t help you there.
melissagiragrant.com
in all the discussion (and sometimes tokenizing) of Portland protests being a creative spectacle that neutralizes law enforcement, don’t overlook:
alissaazar.bsky.social
Members of the Unpresidented Brass Band were bull rushed & brutalized in the middle of playing "Ghostbusters." One was sent to the hospital and another tackled, arrested, and taken across state lines where she is still being detained.

Read more about Sunday's protest in Portland here:
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
leahmillis.bsky.social
The @chicago.suntimes.com photographer who risked their personal health and safety to take this photograph is Anthony Vazquez. Please credit photographers and media outlets. In this age of misinformation, a photo with no context could be anything at all.
50501movement.bsky.social
Please remind us who the domestic terrorists are again.
Photo from Chicago: DHS militarized agent holding a gun up directly in someone’s face as the victim has their hands up, pleading for them not to shoot.
melissagiragrant.com
this resource is geared towards journalists, but I think thinking through “why do I need to conceal my location” is an important question preceding “how should I do it”
melissagiragrant.com
re: the flurry of “leave your phone at home for protests” advice, will just offer this—“…it’s important to take a step back and think about your specific threat context. Ask yourself: Do I actually have a reason to keep my presence at a given location a secret?”
Ask a security trainer: Is mobile device location tracking a real risk?
Yes, but before implementing steps to mitigate it, take a moment to ask: Who’s at risk, when does it matter, and what’s at stake?
freedom.press
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
kissphoria.bsky.social
Austin gay bar Oilcan Harry's, which I love, slams the news that Cheer Up's is being acquired by an investment firm.

"PLEASE AUSTIN, do your homework!! and actively support your LGBTQIA+ locally-owned community centers.
Remember, NONE of them begin with a C!!!!"
We don't know what's worse... the city not taking any noticeable proactive steps to protect 4th St. from being slowly stripped of its LGBTQIA+ owned identity, or Cheer Ups selling out its soul to a Florida corporation with conservative MAGA ties??? (Yes Pride Holdings, everyone saw you just unfollow D Trump Jr, Mr Beast, and Morgan Wallen today as this news blew up). Are you F**king serious?! Cheer Ups was supposed to represent alt queer Austin!! This news angers us, especially after their Pride stunt BS...
•••
What happened to our LGBTQ community where they don't seem to care that the owners of one of their "LGBTQIA+" entertainment businesses is actually a straight man trying to tear down Austin's historical LGBTQIA+ 4th St. block?.... looking at you new owners of Coconut Club.
There are only 5 locally LGBTQIA+ owned and LGBTQIA+ focused nighttime business in Austin now: The Austin Eagle, Highland Lounge, The Iron Bear, Oilcan Harrys, and Rain on 4th
PLEASE AUSTIN, do your homework!! and actively support your LGBTQIA+ locally-owned community centers.
Remember, NONE of them begin with a C!!!!
prideholdingsgroupcorporate
melissagiragrant.com
when I'm done I'll write about reading one of their books in the other one's bathtub
melissagiragrant.com
there have been days looking at the letterheads of various orgs of this time and it's just like well these two on the board of this defense committee were definitely weekending in ptown together at the time
melissagiragrant.com
what I love about this era of strikes is how you see the names of famous writers who came out on the picket line recur and grow, and after reading about them for five years now it's just
a man in a yellow shirt is sitting in a chair holding a cup and pointing
Alt: leo pointing and holding a beer (not small)
media.tenor.com