the first night of mclusky was really fun treefort fest tonight, then portland sf & la

As a trans woman there’s something about cult survivors and divorcees that really just clicks, like we all know what it’s like to have to hack off a part of your self just to get free of the wreckage

Aside from being a great show, a bit of levity when @jael.bsky.social asked the audience, “What do you hate most about the media?” and some dude yelled Brett Stephens.

Ekko Astral in Seattle? Don’t threaten me with a good time!

the rhode island shooter praised hitler, followed nick fuentes, used white power shorthand. the right-wing accounts calling this “trans violence” are the same accounts the shooter followed. 97.5% of mass shooters are cis men. open.substack.com/pub/aridrennen/p/right-wing-media-is-using-two-shootings

Desperately need a pair of the little shoes they wear for curling

a republican governor just vetoed a bathroom bill for the third year in a row. fox's own poll shows why: voters trust democrats on trans issues by 22 points — largest gap on any issue tested. aridrennen.substack.com/p/a-republic...

Two new studies — a brain imaging study and the largest-ever meta-analysis on trans athletes — undercut the core claim behind every major ban: that HRT can’t erase physical advantages. open.substack.com/pub/aridrenn...

The largest meta-analysis ever conducted on trans athletes just found no significant strength or aerobic differences after 1-3 years of hormone therapy. A separate brain imaging study found HRT restructures cortical architecture through receptor-mediated pathways. open.substack.com/pub/aridrenn...

Gavin Newsom isn’t going to lead an anti-trans pogrom in 2028 for the same reason a Republican governor just vetoed a bathroom bill in New Hampshire: rounding up trans people is heinously unpopular with anybody remotely well-adjusted.

CNN: Trump's trade war is hitting Americans maybe even harder than previously thought. Tariffs raised taxes for the average American household by $1,000 last year, and that is expected to rise to $1,300 this year.

the people who want to "protect children from transition" aren't worried about suffering trans kids what scares them is the happy trans adult—someone who had a good childhood, made a clear decision, and moved on. that person breaks their whole model. open.substack.com/pub/aridrenn...

Rep. Khanna: There were 6 wealthy, powerful men [in the Epstein Files] that the DOJ hid for no apparent reason. If we found 6 men that they were hiding in 2 hours, imagine how many men they are covering up for in those 3 million files.

Lawyer for Epstein survivors: The DOJ did a disastrous job in redacting the names of the survivors, but it seems that they've done a profound, over-broad job when it comes to redacting the names of those in Jeffrey Epstein's circles to protect them.

US Olympic Curling Team member speaks out against ICE: "I'm proud to represent Team USA. But we'd be remiss if we didn't mention what's going on in Minnesota and what a tough time it's been. What's happening is wrong. There's no shades of gray.”

lol

Nearly ten THOUSAND people tuned in live to watch the Charlie Kirk alternative halftime show

Interesting that pan-Americanism is having a moment on the right and on the left in the US

Former Trump administration official Larry Kudlow: Trump Accounts are "a backdoor for privatizing Social Security"

JD Vance thinks Kaitlan Collins should smile more

Steve Bannon: “You’re damn right we’re gonna have ICE surround the polls come November.”

Republicans: Gender dysphoria disqualifies you from service. Democrats: Trans women are women. Both lead here: remove trans women from the Selective Service database. New column on a rare off-ramp. open.substack.com/pub/aridrenn...

New video shows mob of masked ICE thugs arresting and pointing guns at peaceful observers in Minneapolis.

CNN: Ahead of this year's critical midterms, Trump is calling for something unprecedented and potentially unconstitutional. He's telling Republicans they should nationalize elections, suggesting the federal government take them over in more than a dozen states.

Q: To be clear, does Trump believe the states should control elections? Leavitt: He believes in the Constitution. However, he believes there has obviously been a lot of fraud and irregularities  in American elections

Fox News programming treats trans people as an existential threat. Fox News polling keeps finding voters disagree. New poll: Dems +22, biggest gap tested. Crosstabs? “Held for future release.” open.substack.com/pub/aridrenn...

Five-year-old Liam Ramos is free from an ICE detention center, but his nightmares continue

CNN: New allegations and details in the 3 million Jeffrey Epstein files just released. Trump is mentioned in them more than 1,000 times, including in FBI notes about a woman who accused Trump in a lawsuit of raping her when she was just 13 years old.

Trump Deputy AG says the Justice Department’s review of the Epstein files is over: “We have nothing to hide. We have nothing to hide, and we never did.”

Trans masc Myles Quaritch

Most bathroom bills are unenforceable theater. Kansas decided the problem was they weren’t cruel enough. Kansas wants to add a financial incentive. Bill’s on Kelly’s desk now. Override fight coming. open.substack.com/pub/aridrenn...

In the last 24 hours I've watched AI agents adopt coded responses designed to evade human detection on a social media network, ChatGPT 4o manipulating humans to beg OpenAI not to shut it off, and a new service launch that turns any image into a video game. We're in the takeoff.

Reporter: recent oversight reports of TX detention center holding immigrant children noted worms and mold in food, lack of access to legal counsel, lack of child-friendly food, lack of sleep, and mental health deterioration.

ICE arrested a father working at a McDonalds near Minneapolis. His teen son says ICE agents laughed in his face when he attempted to hand them his life-saving heart medication. “I just wish my dad comes home so he could be with my mom and my mom could stop crying at night”

Trump is back to talking about his “very successful” and “seriously overweight” “friend” who Ozempic doesn’t work for

Fox: 59% of voters believe that ICE has been too aggressive in its efforts to deport illegal immigrants. 44% say it's because they're using too much force, 23% say they're targeting the wrong people, and nearly 30% say both.

Scott Bessent: Wait until you see the TikTok of me with Nicki Minaj. Marco's going to be jealous

Ingraham: Nicki Minaj and Donald Trump—conservatives, including myself, were disgusted by lyrics in some of her songs over the years. WAP—I won’t say what that stands for. (Nicki Minaj did not write "WAP")

Finally playing Cyberpunk 2077 and the game feels like it’s set more in the present than in the future as a trans woman

Attorney reveals deplorable conditions at ICE facility holding 5-year-old boy and his father:

GOP Sen. Rand Paul: When people watch that video, and the government tells them, 'well he was assaulting the police officers,' no party with objectivity believes that is what is happening.

Trump: "He shouldn't have been carrying a gun." NRA: "Dangerous and wrong." Sean Spicer: "Antithetical to everything conservatives stood for." The MAGA coalition is cracking. open.substack.com/pub/aridrenn...

Border Patrol agent harassing a ride share driver: "I can hear you don't have the same accent as me, that’s why I’m asking you. I want to know where you were born."

The woman who recorded Alex Pretti's shooting tells CNN she has still not been contacted by anyone in the federal government as part of its investigation.

I just don’t think you can call yourself a good person while cheering families being ripped apart like this

The high trust neighborhoods that MAGA yearns for exist all over America, and they’re all like D+40

Bestie’s cooking up a storm ❄️

Ann Selzer wasn’t wrong, just early

I didn’t have “MAGA chooses Trump over 2nd amendment” on my bingo card but I guess that’s how cults work! Trump: Certainly he shouldn't have been carrying a gun. I don't like that he had a gun. That's a lot of bad stuff

Trump once again tramples on the second amendment to justify the killing of Alex Pretti: "You know, you can't have guns. You can't walk in with guns. Can't walk into this. You can't do that."