Trans youth healthcare is based in decades of research and supported by every major medical organization in the US. Under RFK Jr, a handpicked panel produced a dodgy report claiming otherwise. It's a clear example of Kennedy's war on science. So why aren't news organizations treating it that way?

Is sanitation woke? We dig in in the latest newsletter. Read the whole thing here: link.motherjones.com/view/647e4ef...

The big climate news of the week is the Trump administration's moves to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado. Here are our partner's takes on the loss of what has been described as "a crown jewel of our weather and climate research infrastructure." ⬇️

There has been lots said about the evidence quality underpinning trans healthcare today, in both popular press and by politicians. Here is a story where I parsed those details through reporting on a failed research partnership--and it's fallout.

That’s right, I said it!

This is a wildly unethical study that would be illegal to conduct in the United States. Have you heard of the Tuskegee experiments (crimes against humanity)? This sounds like that.

w/ passage of Marjorie Taylor Greene bill banning gender-affirming care for minors, re-upping story I wrote couple yrs ago abt Renton Sinclair, trans dude in KC who survived horrific, non-affirming childhood w/ a mom who later became a MAGA anti-trans influencer www.huffpost.com/entry/trans-...

Everything aside, this is not even close an accurate average estimate of a phallo or metoidioplasty cost.

Earlier this year, @msjpauly.bsky.social and I spent tens of hours speaking to trans kids and their families about their lives under Trump 2.0. Now is not a bad time to re-read it. Coverage of the latest news coming from colleagues at Mother Jones later today.

“This bill... creates an incredibly dangerous precedent far beyond the specific care at issue, criminalizing care based on ideology and placing Washington politicians between families and their doctors." -Mike Zamore, ACLU

Republicans are “obsessed with trans people. I actually think they think more about trans people than trans people think about trans people. They are consumed with this, and they are extreme on it.” - McBride

"I didn’t have the courage to come out until I was 21, and that means 21 years of pain, 21 years of unwavering homesickness that only went away when I was able to get the care that I needed. And my biggest regret in life is that I never had a childhood without that pain.”

I want to listen to a new album every week next year. Any recommendations for albums that should not be missed on this musical journey? No genre, time period, etc restrictions (Operate under the opinion I haven't heard the album, at least in full, my listening habits are pretty limited)

My best book of the year was Dungeon Crawler Carl by @mattdinniman.bsky.social I respect my colleagues Literature™️ picks, but it couldn't be me. Some more SF I read this year threaded ⬇️

Thank you to @evanurquhart.bsky.social and @assignedmedia.org for these really kind words.

You'll probably recognize your faves in my top ten, including @joyurcaba.bsky.social, @oriion.bsky.social, @transvestigations.bsky.social (from @erininthemorning.com), and @hencarnell.bsky.social. And in the bottom five you'll find @theatlantic.com, @nytimes.com, and @wsj.com of course.

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

Read @jamespwest.bsky.social reporting from Sydney on this weekend's horrific massacre www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

First semester of grad school done ✅ Here are a few of favorite readings for your enjoyment, in no particular order ⬇️

The FDA is interested in changing testosterone’s label as a drug with a higher risk of abuse and physical dependence, to help cisgender men more easily access it. What about trans men, you ask? Well, the FDA didn't, but we did!

my person of the year is the soft animal of a body that loves what it loves while the world goes on and the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain move across the landscapes, fwiw

What a story! @fieseler.bsky.social

Just noting that no one is ever going to seize a tanker full of solar energy www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

There has been a lot of news about geothermal energy in the past couple weeks. We'll get to news, but first let's recap what geothermal is 🚿⛰️🔥 1/4

For the next installment of American Science, Shattered, I talked to early-career queer researchers about how they're navigating federal attacks on both their work and their personhood. www.statnews.com/2025/12/09/h...

Stay tuned for further installments of American Science, Shattered (and catch up on any of the stories you have missed so far!) www.statnews.com/american-sci...

This is a really good article that more people on this site should be reading

Re-upping this story, which covered trans folks on Medicaid when this restriction was on the table for the BBB. It ended up being removed from the BBB, but is now in proposed Republican bill for health care subsidies.

I want a t-shirt that says "trans apathetic" on it.

There are a lot of things to say about this, but I think a really key thing is that this highlights how important digital preservation of the internet is. Pause for a moment to imagine a world if we didn't have an @archive.org version of this webpage from previously?

Our latest newsletter was guest written by @ninalakhani.bsky.social from @environment.theguardian.com about Trump's attacks on coal country. Read the whole newsletter here: link.motherjones.com/view/647e4ef...

Go read this excellent feature on orphan wells by @mollytaft.com (And read it to the end!!! because at the end there is a surprise: a sidebar by me, where my editor let me talk about the everything ranging from the 19th century oil boom to 21st century satellites. #ripMethaneSAT)

That study the federal government relied on heavily to contend that Roundup is safe. Yeah, well, it was ghostwritten by Monsanto. In fact, the evidence suggests glyphosate causes cancer in humans. Here's a dispatch from our resident Roundup expert.

BREAKING: Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans & intersex people, memo says. A DOJ memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) do not align with Trump’s Jan. 20 anti-trans executive order, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports.

Fans of permitting reform say that it will work to renewable energy's advantage. But of course, that's not true if the administration is also *specifically intervening to stop solar development*.

i understand that there is reader demand for articles like this, but i wish every single one ended with a reminder that the most impactful thing you can do for the climate and environment (at least as far as your diet goes) is to eat fewer animal products www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/c...

“‘There is a world in which these nations [that support a fossil fuel phaseout] band together and create a global trading bloc that could essentially force the petrostates to start decarbonizing … it could be a way forward.” www.motherjones.com/environment/...

"Can the World Address Climate Change Without the US?" by Jackie Flynn Mogensen & Henry Carnell for @motherjones.com: www.motherjones.com/environment/...

A little post-mortem on COP30 with @jackiefmogensen.bsky.social How forceful the call for fossil fuel phaseout was—just for it to be struck from the decision! And, what role the US's absence played in this happening...

Really good read

My latest: #COP30, global climate politics, and what happens next — for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I cannot stop thinking about how Olivia Nuzzi turned a climate-fueled wildfire that killed people and destroyed thousands of homes into romantic mood lighting for her affair with a guy who helped put a climate denier back in power.

About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in. Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A sobering reflection Kai Cheng Thom today for #TransDayofRemembrance "We grieve. And we keep going. And maybe 15 years from now, or 50, or 500, we will live in a different world." xtramagazine.com/power/activi...

PTFO collaborated with @msjpauly.bsky.social and @motherjones.com on an investigation into Riley Gaines. Riley’s messaging about trans athletes involves “predatory men” and “sexual assault.” But there’s an important story multiple ex-teammates at Kentucky want you to know: youtu.be/iKUl8lkuGOc?...

On January 13, the Supreme Court is going to hear arguments over state laws targeting transgender girls in sports. This from @pablo.show and @motherjones.com is a great explainer on why the right-wing legal movement needs this issue to push trans people out of public life altogether

Thread ⬇️

This is a really incredible feat of reporting by @msjpauly.bsky.social that everyone should read.

NEW: Trump's DOJ sent a subpoena to a gender-affirming care clinic seeking information on patients, including minors, and its insurance billing practices. The clinic—which doesn't even take insurance—fought the demand in court and won. Read @garnethenderson.com in @autonomynews.co