Melissa Vanden Bout
@docvanden.bsky.social
Ethicist and troublemaker. The only way out is through. The only way through is together. (she/her) 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🇵🇸
Pinned
(For now, my latest article.)
Betray can mean “break faith,”or it can mean “reveal.” In its choices about who it protects and who it identifies as a threat, an institution tells us who it really was all along.
My story of institutional betrayal: www.advancejournal.org/article/94664
Betray can mean “break faith,”or it can mean “reveal.” In its choices about who it protects and who it identifies as a threat, an institution tells us who it really was all along.
My story of institutional betrayal: www.advancejournal.org/article/94664
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
You mean the company that's currently being struck by its workers and the company that's currently being boycotted because of its terrible DEI policy rollbacks? Why not just call this the Chocolate Mint Racist Scab Frostie?
Beginning Monday, a Frozen Peppermint Hot Chocolate drink will be available exclusively at Starbucks cafés inside Target stores.
The chains are hoping the drink can drum up excitement from customers this holiday season.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/yrshv45s
The chains are hoping the drink can drum up excitement from customers this holiday season.
🔗https://tinyurl.com/yrshv45s
November 17, 2025 at 8:49 PM
You mean the company that's currently being struck by its workers and the company that's currently being boycotted because of its terrible DEI policy rollbacks? Why not just call this the Chocolate Mint Racist Scab Frostie?
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Many of them are remaking the federal government right now.
there are quite a few white folks who vividly recall and rather miss Jim Crow alive and voting in this country right now
I honestly don’t see how anyone can see it any other way if they are honest. Jim Crow was only ~60 years ago! Are we really pretending that the insane racism just suddenly disappeared? This is to say nothing of the hundreds of examples we all have of seeing casual racism in everyday life
November 17, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Many of them are remaking the federal government right now.
Bastards.
NEW—US Park Police w/ DHS officers near DC are increasingly pulling over Black and brown men, leaving their work vans on the side of the parkway + immediately calling a local towing company to take them. Families who just lost their breadwinner are stuck with the bill.
@melbuer.bsky.social reports:
@melbuer.bsky.social reports:
Families of DC-area immigrant drivers snatched by feds stuck with tow bill
Elected officials and activists note work vehicles removed lightning fast, resulting in hundreds in fees.
www.thehandbasket.co
November 17, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Bastards.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
they're going after holocaust survivors
79-year-old Paul Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp. His family legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5.
He’s been taken by ICE in Florida.
www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...
He’s been taken by ICE in Florida.
www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...
Sanford grandfather, born in refugee camp, nabbed by ICE after 70 years in U.S.
Paul Bojerski never gained official residency, but he checked in regularly with ICE for years. Then in July, at age 79, he was detained and sent to Alligator Alcatraz.
www.orlandosentinel.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:29 PM
they're going after holocaust survivors
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Never forget that just a week ago, Ross Douthat and the NYTimes were asking if women ruined the workplace.
November 17, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Never forget that just a week ago, Ross Douthat and the NYTimes were asking if women ruined the workplace.
Can’t wait!
Also, very early galleys of The Tapestry of Fate are in! I'm so excited to start seeing Amina's next adventure out in the wild
November 17, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Can’t wait!
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
We owe these women an unending debt for all they have endured and for the model of courageous defiance they have offered. Release the files.
🚨🔥 "For 5 admins, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein have been left in the dark, waiting for answers and accountability. After 3 decades, it’s finally time to bring the secrets out of the shadows. We are demanding the release of ALL the Epstein files."
Contact electeds: is.gd/pFjihq
Contact electeds: is.gd/pFjihq
November 17, 2025 at 3:12 AM
We owe these women an unending debt for all they have endured and for the model of courageous defiance they have offered. Release the files.
I love this Tenzin sketch…
Something a little different for this week, anyone interested in a proxy with a sketch?
The Archimandrite as Tenzin, with a Tenzin sketch, and Locket of Guru Laghima (Sensei’s Diving Top).
Usual rules, repost and follow to enter, I’ll pick a winner Sunday, Nov 16.
The Archimandrite as Tenzin, with a Tenzin sketch, and Locket of Guru Laghima (Sensei’s Diving Top).
Usual rules, repost and follow to enter, I’ll pick a winner Sunday, Nov 16.
November 17, 2025 at 1:39 AM
I love this Tenzin sketch…
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
I’m begging you… my daughters’ bodies turned blue from the cold.
🆘🙏😫
Our tent is torn and the rain comes through every hole —everything is soaked.
We have no dry place,no warmth.
We urgently need $800 for a new tent and blankets.
Please help me give my girls a warm shelter again
gofund.me/6c95993f7
🆘🙏😫
Our tent is torn and the rain comes through every hole —everything is soaked.
We have no dry place,no warmth.
We urgently need $800 for a new tent and blankets.
Please help me give my girls a warm shelter again
gofund.me/6c95993f7
November 16, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I’m begging you… my daughters’ bodies turned blue from the cold.
🆘🙏😫
Our tent is torn and the rain comes through every hole —everything is soaked.
We have no dry place,no warmth.
We urgently need $800 for a new tent and blankets.
Please help me give my girls a warm shelter again
gofund.me/6c95993f7
🆘🙏😫
Our tent is torn and the rain comes through every hole —everything is soaked.
We have no dry place,no warmth.
We urgently need $800 for a new tent and blankets.
Please help me give my girls a warm shelter again
gofund.me/6c95993f7
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Picture in your mind the world you’d love to see the children you know grow up to inherit. I know you can think of all the obstacles in the way of that world. I’m asking you to challenge yourself to think of ways through & around them. Because the absence of progress isn’t proof of impossibility.
November 15, 2025 at 9:37 PM
Picture in your mind the world you’d love to see the children you know grow up to inherit. I know you can think of all the obstacles in the way of that world. I’m asking you to challenge yourself to think of ways through & around them. Because the absence of progress isn’t proof of impossibility.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Stop listening to people who can only tell you what “will never work”, and the only suggestions they have maintain the status quo in a different flavor. A new world is possible. It will not just require us to vote, protest, campaign, fundraise, and fight, it will require rediscovering imagination.
November 15, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Stop listening to people who can only tell you what “will never work”, and the only suggestions they have maintain the status quo in a different flavor. A new world is possible. It will not just require us to vote, protest, campaign, fundraise, and fight, it will require rediscovering imagination.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte.
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
“When the 8 African American sheriffs took over the largest counties in North Carolina, it became a threat to the good ol’ boy system,” says the sheriff of Charlotte. These new sheriffs broke ties with ICE.
But GOP lawmakers cracked down this week, overbidding the governor’s veto to adopt this law:
But GOP lawmakers cracked down this week, overbidding the governor’s veto to adopt this law:
North Carolina GOP Is Cracking Down on the Black Sheriffs Who Stood Up to ICE
Boosted by new supermajorities, Republicans are closing in on legislation to mandate more collaboration with ICE and preempt local policies hard-won by immigrants’ rights advocates.
boltsmag.org
November 15, 2025 at 10:43 PM
I'm seeing people wonder why ICE is going after Charlotte.
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
ICE has been at war with Charlotte's sheriff ever since he won in 2018.
We'd covered this at Bolts back in the day; this quote is from that sheriff:
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Here’s a story for every national news outlet:
In N.C., churchgoers are literally running into the woods as federal agents descend on the property.
“Inside the church, women and children sobbed as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken.”
www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...
In N.C., churchgoers are literally running into the woods as federal agents descend on the property.
“Inside the church, women and children sobbed as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken.”
www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...
November 16, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Here’s a story for every national news outlet:
In N.C., churchgoers are literally running into the woods as federal agents descend on the property.
“Inside the church, women and children sobbed as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken.”
www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...
In N.C., churchgoers are literally running into the woods as federal agents descend on the property.
“Inside the church, women and children sobbed as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken.”
www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politic...
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Evening Update: I'm now down to needing $460 by Friday, 11/21, in order to make the final payment in my rent payment plan and stay housed. #MutualAidRequest
November 16, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Evening Update: I'm now down to needing $460 by Friday, 11/21, in order to make the final payment in my rent payment plan and stay housed. #MutualAidRequest
“Money acts like mass.”
it's easy to kind of invert the logic, and think they still worked hard at something to get their money, except it was wage theft instead of innovating or whatever.
harder to accept that money acts like mass: the largest amount has the strongest pull
harder to accept that money acts like mass: the largest amount has the strongest pull
November 16, 2025 at 3:11 AM
“Money acts like mass.”
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
So saddened by the news that we have lost Alice Wong. It was an honor to know her and learn from her. May the lessons she shared continue to guide us for years to come.
November 15, 2025 at 4:36 PM
So saddened by the news that we have lost Alice Wong. It was an honor to know her and learn from her. May the lessons she shared continue to guide us for years to come.
No. Absolutely not. This worked because we the people loudly and clearly OPPOSED something blatantly bad. Not because you as an elected representative sought common ground or “collaborated” with the people hell bent on trampling our rights.
STOP COOPERATING with the people determined to do us harm.
STOP COOPERATING with the people determined to do us harm.
The only way to deliver lasting progress for Northwest Indiana is through genuine collaboration at every level of government. I look forward to continuing this essential work with all of our federal, state, and local partners to build a stronger, more affordable future for every resident of Indiana.
November 15, 2025 at 4:54 AM
No. Absolutely not. This worked because we the people loudly and clearly OPPOSED something blatantly bad. Not because you as an elected representative sought common ground or “collaborated” with the people hell bent on trampling our rights.
STOP COOPERATING with the people determined to do us harm.
STOP COOPERATING with the people determined to do us harm.
Your constituents want to see your name on here, @repmrvan.bsky.social. I know I do.
You’ll want to be able to tell your grandkids you were against genocide and helped stop the flow of arms to murder more civilians.
You’ll want to be able to tell your grandkids you were against genocide and helped stop the flow of arms to murder more civilians.
NEW — Rashida Tlaib and 20 other members of Congress have introduced a resolution to officially recognize Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people.
It notes that between 10/23 and 11/25, the US sent $21,700,000,000 in military aid to Israel and authorized $30,000,000,000+ in new weapons deals.
It notes that between 10/23 and 11/25, the US sent $21,700,000,000 in military aid to Israel and authorized $30,000,000,000+ in new weapons deals.
November 15, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Your constituents want to see your name on here, @repmrvan.bsky.social. I know I do.
You’ll want to be able to tell your grandkids you were against genocide and helped stop the flow of arms to murder more civilians.
You’ll want to be able to tell your grandkids you were against genocide and helped stop the flow of arms to murder more civilians.
Yes! Let’s get Charlotte where she needs to be.
Second Evening Update: I'm now down to needing $500 by next Friday, 11/21, to make my final rent payment! Many thanks to the mutual who sent me a generous donation. 💜 #MutualAidRequest
November 15, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Yes! Let’s get Charlotte where she needs to be.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
It really seems like this administration is trying to eliminate the field of public health. MPHs and DrPHs will no longer be considered "professional degrees" by the DOE and, therefore, will face limits to accessing federal student loans.
aspph.org/department-o...
aspph.org/department-o...
Department of Education Proposal Excludes Public Health Degrees from “Professional Degree” Definition
Discover the new results and implications of Dept of Ed consensus regarding professional degree programs and public health education.
aspph.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:27 PM
It really seems like this administration is trying to eliminate the field of public health. MPHs and DrPHs will no longer be considered "professional degrees" by the DOE and, therefore, will face limits to accessing federal student loans.
aspph.org/department-o...
aspph.org/department-o...
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
“Treating people who use drugs as if their health issues are moral failings is a violation of their human rights”
Important update was yesterday B.C.'s Human Rights Commissioner said the B.C. gov's approach to drug use has been a human rights violation. Here's to hoping CBC adds that into the story because it's kinda real big.
www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...
November 15, 2025 at 12:52 AM
“Treating people who use drugs as if their health issues are moral failings is a violation of their human rights”
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Sick of horrors they're seeing by ICE, retired Chicago journalists unleash
Letter from Chicago broadcast veterans: Federal immigration agents have traumatized us and eroded our rights
The fact that some federal immigration forces may be leaving soon is cold comfort given the damage they’ve done.
www.chicagotribune.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Sick of horrors they're seeing by ICE, retired Chicago journalists unleash
We’re so so close…help Charlotte stay housed? Give and share as you can, friends.
Lunchtime Update: Still sitting at $600 needed by next Friday, 11/21, so I can make the final payment on my rent payment plan and stay housed. #MutualAidRequest
November 14, 2025 at 7:26 PM
We’re so so close…help Charlotte stay housed? Give and share as you can, friends.