samantha riedel
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samanthawrites.net
samantha riedel
@samanthawrites.net
very tired word girl @them.us | member, @transjournalists.org
pic by @phobia.bsky.social | banner by @jukeboxcomix.bsky.social

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hi freaks! I'm Samantha Riedel. I write about transgender politics, art, & culture, mostly for @them.us. after a decade I think I almost have the hang of it...!

my website: samanthawrites.net
irregular newsletter: samanthaistyping.beehiiv.com/subscribe
latest Them work: www.them.us/contributor/...
samantha riedel is typing...
The online home of journalist and essayist Samantha Riedel. If you're reading this, it's already too late.
samanthawrites.net
Reposted by samantha riedel
Arresting Black journalists is also vice signaling. Their base is racist and hates journalists and they want to get them excited again. The mainstream media industry has never protected Black journalists or journalists of color the way it should.
January 30, 2026 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
These are all Black people. The regime is betting that you wont care Jamael & Trahern the way you care about Alex & Renée
feds have arrested jamael lundy alongside journalists georgia fort and don lemon for the protest at a st. paul church led by an ICE agent

lundy is currently running for state senate district 65 in minnesota. his wife is anika bowie, a st. paul city councilmember

www.jlundyforsd65.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
Just a reminder that at least 242 journalists were killed by Israel since October 7.
Palestine was the test to see what they could do. Not standing in solidarity with Palestinians was not only a major moral and ethical failing it was a strategic mistake that everyone will pay for.
January 30, 2026 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
important reporting from my colleagues @rachelleingang.bsky.social @maanvisingh.bsky.social

at an ICE raid, observer RM's car was gassed and windows smashed; they were taken to Whipple and forced to the ground by agents:

"Agents yelled at RM, who is trans, saying 'Do you like the dirt, queer?'"
Minnesotans following and documenting ICE activity here have been detained, pulled out of their cars, hit with chemicals, had agents route them to their homes and take photos. Even after the killings of two observers, they aren't stopping. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Minneapolis ICE observers keep showing up despite risk of arrest and violence
Bystanders say they are determined to keep recording federal agents’ actions: ‘There will be absolutely no accountability unless people are documenting’
www.theguardian.com
January 29, 2026 at 8:45 PM
gotta say it's pretty rich for these douchebags to make such a big stink about "low quality evidence" for gender-affirming care to then turn around and be like "hey, your kid should try some of these pills we just found out about. our friend says he has a really good feeling about em"
Quick glance at the first name on the list: Sylvia Fogel is a psychiatrist and member of the "Autism Discovery Coalition," a group which recently convinced Trump to tout leucovorin as an autism "treatment" based on zero evidence www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...
What to know about leucovorin, unproven autism drug touted by Trump
When President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would repurpose an old, generic drug as a new treatment for autism, it came as a surprise to many experts — including the physician who sugges...
www.pbs.org
January 28, 2026 at 10:20 PM
i'm sure you'll all be shocked to learn that RFK Jr. is packing the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee with quack doctors, many of whom are also aggrieved professional "autism parents"

www.hhs.gov/press-room/h...
www.hhs.gov
January 28, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
The fascism is expanding … not new.
January 23, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
meticulously labelling every bad thing the United States has ever done 'un-American' then bolting the gates of my Mind Palace with a gentle smile, secure in the knowledge that I live in the Good Country
January 22, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
The three journalists worked for a committee supervising Egyptian aid in Gaza and were documenting a newly set-up camp.
Three journalists among 11 Palestinians killed in Israel's attacks on Gaza
The three journalists worked for a committee supervising Egyptian aid in Gaza and were documenting a newly set-up camp.
www.aljazeera.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
Please donate! This is personally important to me ❤️
Two of my dear friends just lost their car in an accident and urgently need a replacement. Please donate if you're able to, I know money is tight for everyone right now, but this is a very straightforward way to help a Black queer couple in need

www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-hel...
Donate to Urgent: Help Kira and Ki Replace Their Car, organized by Takira Romero
Hi, we're Kira and Ki. We're engaged to be married and just lost our car in a… Takira Romero needs your support for Urgent: Help Kira and Ki Replace Their Car
www.gofundme.com
January 21, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
a quick comic about jesus
January 21, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
Three years today. The cops are already killing protesters—it's not a line we haven't crossed, it's a thing already happening—but lots of people never heard about or paid attention to this one. So it goes
January 18, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
NEW — ICE violence has spread well beyond Minneapolis, with agents landing in small cities like St. Cloud. I spoke with Alice Valentine, a local queer trans woman, who protested ICE on Monday and was pepper sprayed, beaten and jailed as a result, along with her girlfriend.

This is Alice's story:
Queer trans ICE protester in small Minn. city recounts agents' violence and humiliation
Alice Valentine of St. Cloud was pepper sprayed and jailed by ICE for trying to protect immigrant neighbors.
www.thehandbasket.co
January 16, 2026 at 6:58 PM
babe wake up, one of the "tradcath egirl summit" chicks is transvestigating sydney sweeney's neck
them.us Them @them.us · 16d
The Far Right Is Now Transvestigating Sydney Sweeney Because Face-Eating Leopards Eat Faces
The Far Right Is Now Transvestigating Sydney Sweeney
The conspiracy theory has been around since 2017.
www.them.us
January 14, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
since it's behind a paywall now, I wanted to share this graph from "How Trump 2.0 is slashing NIH-backed research — in charts" (Nature, April 2025). Say it with me: the anti-trans/LGBTQ+ movement is an anti-science movement:
[article sans figs can be read here: web.archive.org/web/20250501... ]
January 12, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
One of the first neighborhoods and groups I saw targeted by agents during raids in Chicago were vice districts and sex workers on the blade and in massage parlors.

The overwhelming response to that was laughter, indifference, or relief
January 13, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
U.S. citizen detained by ICE:

“…they finally told me that they could offer undocumented family members of mine legal protection if I have any…or money, in exchange for giving them the names of protest organizers, or undocumented persons. I was shocked, and told them no.”
just a reminder that we aren’t even seeing the worst of what is happening in Minneapolis from someone detailed at the Whipple Federal Building yesterday
January 13, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
I encourage you to think of abolishing ICE not as an end in itself, but as a good start.
January 12, 2026 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
y'all may remember that Justice Amy Coney Barrett claimed to have no knowledge about how the government treats trans people, & said trans people had been subject to "relatively little" discrimination

y'all may not know that her skepticism had legal significance..
ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/trans...
This Is the History of Anti-Trans Bigotry Amy Coney Barrett Doesn’t Want to Talk About
Barrett thinks transgender people have been subjected to “relatively little” discrimination. This amicus brief aims to set the record straight.
ballsandstrikes.org
January 12, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
Bringing back this thread for everyone differentiating between ICE and the cops.
In 1999, a woman named Jessica Gonzales sought and obtained an order of protection against her physically abusive husband ("AH"), who had repeatedly threatened to kill her and their three children. The order included language specifically limiting when and where AH was allowed to see the children.
January 12, 2026 at 4:43 PM
hey if you're a writer trying to unfuck your creative situation this year, getting coaching from Jay helped me with that a lot and you should consider hiring him to help you too
HEY, WRITERS! If you're looking at the new year as a time to revisit or revitalizes your practice, finish that lingering WIP, or learn a new skill, consider tackling those goals with the support of a coach. edidin.wordpress.com/coaching-for...
January 9, 2026 at 10:04 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
portland city council confirms that two portland residents have been shot by federal agents. at this time, the city council has been told that both victims are alive.
January 8, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Reposted by samantha riedel
I-94 and Wilson, Chicago, IL
January 8, 2026 at 10:51 PM
did my best to break down what we know, and how Trump officials have lied so far, about Renee Good and her murder today:
January 8, 2026 at 7:22 PM