Prism

🚨EMERGENCY FUNDRAISER: Fascism has its boot on Prism’s neck🚨 Not only is fascism killing our kin & funneling our tax dollars toward genocide, it is targeting a free press that tells truth against power. Prism has lost half a million dollars in funding. We need your help to keep our newsroom alive.

“Voters in these four states will have a rare opportunity to directly vote on the status of bodily autonomy & the results could affect us all.” Idaho, Nevada & Virginia could strengthen abortion protections, while Missouri could roll back rights. @laurenarankin.bsky.social breaks down the ballot.

“In the U.S., it’s not just the authorities who are captured by the endless killing; it’s the public itself.” Public execution is an everyday reality in the U.S.—livestreamed or not, writes columnist @williamcson.bsky.social. These killings are rooted in lynching, genocide & white supremacy.

Glad to see my work with @prismreports.org to document the rise in new criminal penalties targeting trans people is helping to inform legal work in Idaho. Read the story here: prismreports.org/2026/05/12/a... Amicus brief: www.acluidaho.org/app/uploads/...

“I’ve wanted to work for Planned Parenthood since I was 17 years old. Now that dream is a nightmare not just for me but for everyone who counted on PPSE.” Employees allege in lawsuit that Planned Parenthood fired them for speaking out for abortion rights & inclusion, @sfatima.bsky.social reports.

“In the months since I was hospitalized, I’ve had to slow down. I have to repeatedly tell myself that rest is not laziness,” writes Derek R. Trumbo, Sr. after a heart attack. “I have spent so much time proving I could endure hardship that I nearly forgot I am also allowed to recover from it.”

For some, the Trump admin’s plan to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan was unacceptable because it wouldn’t happen behind closed doors, writes @williamcson.bsky.social. Rather, extrajudicial killing in the U.S. is so normalized that it has failed to register as a propagandistic broadcast

“There’s plenty of beautiful things & rich community that happens in even the reddest of red states, in the most rural places.” The focus on trans people who move out of state in response to anti-trans laws obscures the political work of the many who stay, @petrinkae.bsky.social reports.

The U.S. Senate contest between Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon & Republican Sen. Ashley Moody is shaping up as a clash between two very different political coalitions. @alexmar.bsky.social breaks down how the Nov. 3 special election could significant change the status quo in deep-red Florida.

Who is the Indian in Western politics? You can be part of the apparatus that governs the Western powers—a mascot that helps legitimize brutality against dissenters at home or populations living under occupation abroad, writes Avik Jain Chatlani on the South Asian diaspora's place in politics.

Last year, @nicolefroio.bsky.social reported on workers’ complaints that Planned Parenthood Southeast was straying from its progressive mission. The workers allege that leaders said, “We talk about abortion too much, we focus too much on it” & ended participation in Pride events.

“The simple fact is that we were fired from Planned Parenthood because we supported Planned Parenthood. It would be ironic if it wasn’t so heartbreaking & illegal.” Workers say Planned Parenthood Southeast fired them for speaking out for abortion rights & inclusion, reports @sfatima.bsky.social.

Public execution has always been a part of US society. Even now, regularized police killings and capital punishment make it so. My latest for @prismreports.org is about why, livestreamed or not, open state-sanctioned killing is already the norm. prismreports.org/2026/10/21/e...

“[Public execution] has nothing to do with innocence or guilt; it's rooted in lynching, genocide & a white supremacist societal impulse that treats open killing as entertainment.” Public killings are an everyday American reality—livestreamed or not, writes columnist @williamcson.bsky.social.

“You need to be able to take control of your life & if you don’t like your surroundings, you can change them by either fighting to change them, bringing people together—or just moving.” Trans people have been fleeing red states. Kae Petrin reports on the many who stay to fight.

“Facing mortality is a strange business. It does not always arrive with thunder & lightning. Sometimes it comes disguised in a hospital bracelet.” Columnist Derek R. Trumbo, Sr. details how his recent hospitalization both narrowed his vision & widened the world in life after reentry.

Grateful for the opportunity to work with @prismreports.org to write about a very wonky topic: trans data, research methods, and why they matter in daily life.

Florida Sen. race pits Angie Nixon's grassroots organizing against Ashley Moody's GOP coalition, @alexmar.bsky.social reports. Nixon is running on affordability, healthcare & labor rights, while Moody touts public safety, economic growth & backing from law enforcement, firefighter & business groups.

“People should move if they want to move. But if they want to stay, they should fight.” Trans people have been fleeing red states in response to anti-trans laws. What about those who can't afford to & those who choose to stay & fight? @petrinkae.bsky.social reports.

“I know many people now who are struggling to live here in Florida. I want to vote for a change.” Florida Senate race pits Angie Nixon’s grassroots organizing against Ashley Moody’s GOP coalition. @alexmar.bsky.social breaks down the candidates' competing strategies on how to win deep-red Florida.

“What is our life-affirming agenda, a vision that condemns death penalties of all kinds?” As Christa Pike languishes in the hospital & more executions loom, abolishing the death penalty means building alternatives to policing, incarceration & punishment, writes @mayaschenwar.bsky.social.

New from me: Axon’s Fusus surveillance platform, which pushes for integrating private security cameras into real-time police networks, continues to spread across the U.S.

As resistance to Flock cameras swells, 324 U.S. communities have quietly adopted Fusus, a surveillance platform that allows police to watch live camera feeds in their jurisdictions, Christopher Cartwright reports. Privacy advocates & organizers say this integration expands the reach of police power.

“Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies & weaponize federal law enforcement.” Somali American congresswoman Rep. Ilhan Omar has long been verbally attacked by Trump, a political intimidation tactic that escalated with a federal raid on her home, @alexmar.bsky.social reports.

Trans residents in Kansas worry about voting rights during midterms after state revoked IDs, @nickfulton.bsky.social reports. Kansas officials have said that gender markers will not affect voting, but that hasn't quelled trans voters' fears in a state that requires ID at the polls.

“Anyone who is concerned about Flock safety & license plate readers should be equally concerned with Axon & Fusus.” As resistance to Flock sweeps the nation, the number of law enforcement agencies adopting the Fusus surveillance network has more than doubled, @ccartwright123.bsky.social reports.

In the U.S., more people were killed by the state in 2025 than in any year since 2009. In the wake of Christa Pike’s botched execution & more executions in the weeks to come, we must end state violence & build alternatives to policing, incarceration & punishment writes Maya Schenwar in an op-ed.

More about ICE's shooting of Oscar Belgal in Bronx: Agents didn't have proper warrant After they shot Belgal, his son began yelling that masked men killed his dad Belgal is now in solitary The left side of his face is numb He can't hear from one ear www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/10/14/i...

“The brutality is the point. The torture is the point. The murder, not only state-sanctioned but state-celebrated, is the very point.” Christa Pike’s botched execution exposes the cruelty of the death penalty, writes @mayaschenwar.bsky.social in an op-ed originally published by @truthout.org.

Federal raid of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home sparks outcry over political intimidation weeks before the midterm elections, @alexmar.bsky.social reports. Trump has long verbally attacked the Somali American congresswoman. “If Donald Trump can do this to her, he can do it to any other American citizen.”

The average retiree will soon see average cuts of over $2,000 to their annual Social Security benefits if the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign is continued, according to a new report on the widespread economic consequences of the president’s inhumane agenda.

“There really is no limit to what legislatures are willing to do to try to push transgender people out of public life.” GOP advertisers spent $60+ million airing ~200 anti-trans TV ads. This line of attack, combined with the ID laws, worry trans voters in Kansas, @nickfulton.bsky.social reports.

“Many people assume that when they read something from an AI answer engine, it’s giving them a consensus. But when you’re asking about abortion, there’s so much misinformation flying around.” Abortion advocates are battling AI summaries to make their resources discoverable, Nicole Froio reports.

“Yes, there might be some challenges with getting IDs, but you still are a citizen, you still are able to vote. You still are a human.” Kansas officials have said that gender markers will not affect voting, but that hasn’t quelled trans voters’ fears, @nickfulton.bsky.social reports.

Women who were detained in South Louisiana while pregnant told Prism that they were berated by guards; forced to wear shackles on their wrists, hands, belly & feet; & were made to eat inedible food. The eugenics movement has shaped the experiences of women in ICE detention, Edith Romero reports.

Each year, ~2.4 million Americans turn to the internet in search of abortion care. Repro justice advocates warn that an anti-abortion political landscape that coalesces with a new age of AI-mediated information access has also created new concerns about privacy, @nicolefroio.bsky.social reports.

Asylum-seekers are people fleeing persecution, violence & other grave threats. The U.S. government is deporting numbers of immigrants to their deaths in countries they’ve never set foot in. “Is this what due process now looks like under the law?” questions epidemiologist & observer Margaret Handley.

“What matters is that there’s real support for the Palestinian people, not just talk & slogans.” Three years into the genocide, some Palestinians in Gaza say that pro-Palestine rhetoric from politicians only goes so far if realities don’t shift on the ground, Mohammed Abo Matar reports.

“When I got out, I felt so happy because I had my son in my belly & I thank God that I am out of that detention center. I never wish this on anyone.” The experiences of pregnant women in ICE detention show that eugenics remains an integral part of the system, Edith Romero reports.

“The increase in information access being mediated through AI could result in a real disruption to the business model that lets [abortion] resources stay afloat.” @nicolefroio.bsky.social reports on how abortion access orgs are battling AI overviews to make their sites visible to abortion-seekers.

Three years into Gaza's genocide, U.S. political rhetoric hasn't translated into action, writes Mohammed Abo Matar. As midterms approach as some pro-Palestine candidates rose to prominence, Israel never stopped its genocide. Despite a ceasefire, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 8 people last week.

As our beloved @pressonsouth.bsky.social fellows begin to publish their work, I thought I'd share some of their excellent reporting here in a thread, starting with this story from G. Samantha Rosenthal about North Carolina being the center of anti-Zionist organizing in the South:

After a farmworker died & another became disabled after a heat stroke, their employer keeps sending workers on H-2A visas out to the blistering North Carolina fields. Our co-published investigation by @tinavasquez.bsky.social is up now in @theguardian.com, with photos by Kaoly Gutierrez.