Rebecca Bratspies, Author
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rbratspies.bsky.social
Rebecca Bratspies, Author
@rbratspies.bsky.social

Professor, CUNY Law | award-winning scholar, author, speaker
scuba diver | environmental justice, climate justice, human rights, NYC history, urban policy, comic books | mom | optimist (mostly) www.RebeccaBratspies.com

Law 24%
Environmental science 23%
Pinned
hey friends. Guess what . . .my book Naming Gotham just won the 2024 American Legacy Book Award for US History!!! #history #NYC #newyorkcity #historybuff #historylovers #historypodcast #NewYork #awardwinning #books #booklovers www.amazon.com/Naming-Gotha...
Today I received FOUR death notifications for people in ICE custody. That's 30 deaths since Trump took office. It's appalling & unacceptable.
 
ICE is required—by law—to ensure detainees are safe & their basic needs are met. It's clear this isn't the case. We NEED answers.
Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the system to skip the lines. on.wsj.com/3N6apva
They Get Wheeled on Flights and Miraculously Walk Off. Praise ‘Jetway Jesus.’
Travelers bemoan a rise of able-bodied passengers who game the system to skip the lines.
on.wsj.com
Henry Cuellar, Don Davis, and Vicente Gonzalez joined Republicans in voting to criminalize trans health care.

The bill passed only 216 to 214.

4 Republicans voted no. If they did too, it would have failed.

clerk.house.gov/evs/2025/rol...
clerk.house.gov

What the actual f*ck?
No. No. No!

This is critical research. It's not even centered on climate. It's solar physics! It's geomagnetic storms! It's space weather! It's sunspots!

It's a research center needed for satellites and spaceflight!
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
No. No. No!

This is critical research. It's not even centered on climate. It's solar physics! It's geomagnetic storms! It's space weather! It's sunspots!

It's a research center needed for satellites and spaceflight!
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly

Thank you for sharing

and automatic seatbelts
The miracle was in the way the light lasted, not the weapons

I'm not usually one to cry but the combination of the Sandy Hook anniversary, the Brown shooting, the Bondi Beach antisemitic terror shooting, and the fact that ICE grabbed a kid in my neighborhood is just too much. How did we let this happen to us? We have to make it stop.

Growing up, I thought that line was about solidarity with Stonewall

F*ck your thought and prayers
Happy 100th Birthday Dick Van Dyke, and thank you for the joy!
This story really crystallized the impression I’ve been getting recently—also from yesterday’s @jael.bsky.social story—that there are conservative climate dismissives fighting decarbonization who also hold “environmentalist” or at least CONSERVATIONIST positions.

heatmap.news/plus/the-fig...

1/2
Funny how the economic plan is “you could get a government job”…

Justice Kavanaugh says this is fine
WOW. So this is obviously a huge violation of this man's rights, and it illustrates a few things we're seeing broadly:

- DHS officers are ignoring peoples' IDs and instead requiring screening through their own systems
- Confirms @404media.co's reports of use of DHS's facial recognition app.
WOW. So this is obviously a huge violation of this man's rights, and it illustrates a few things we're seeing broadly:

- DHS officers are ignoring peoples' IDs and instead requiring screening through their own systems
- Confirms @404media.co's reports of use of DHS's facial recognition app.
It’s a small thing in the larger white nationalist project, but I keep thinking about the national parks story. It’s so explicitly racist, and its pettiness (and the way it just sailed through the news cycle) makes it even more sinister.

www.npr.org/2025/12/06/g...
National parks' fee-free calendar drops MLK Day, Juneteenth and adds Trump's birthday
The Trump administration, which has railed against what it describes as "woke" policies, removed MLK Day and Juneteenth from next year's list of fare-exempt days for visitors at dozens of national par...
www.npr.org
I've probably photographed Brad Lander more than any other elected in NYC because the dude shows up. He's everywhere, he's incredibly accessible, and he genuinely loves New Yorkers. You can literally go up and talk to him whenever he shows up. Go ahead, try it!

(I have NEVER seen Goldman ANYWHERE.)
This baby Yuanxin Fanb is still just floating all alone in ICE custody and it’s just heartbreaking

He has to be so scared

www.tiktok.com/t/ZTr9CTQ3S/
ICE is abducting our children 😭 #ice #queens #nyc #astoria
TikTok video by The Rana Show
www.tiktok.com
The best reading of this article: Trump is going to use FDA to restrict medication abortion, but he wants to wait until after the midterms so the Republicans don't experience blowback. But that just makes the midterms more important. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
FDA Slow Walking a Long-Awaited Abortion Pill Safety Study
The Food and Drug Administration has delayed a promised review of safety data for the abortion drug mifepristone at Commissioner Marty Makary’s request to put it off until after the midterm elections,...
www.bloomberg.com

Hey NYC, Want to talk Environmental Justice in Western Queens? Join us tonight. This will be my last hurrah at CUNY before moving to Tulane.
My constituent, Wilmer, was mauled by an ICE attack dog despite the fact that, as he has consistently explained, he was not resisting arrest or trying to flee—his wife and young children, all U.S. citizens, were forced to watch helplessly as Wilmer was violently attacked and dragged away.

So excited
OU has put the professor here on administrative leave:
On this day in 1874, a Czech Jewish woman was born. On the 9 Jul 1942 she was deported to Theresienstadt and on the 15 Oct 1942 to Treblinka extermination camp where she perished. Her name was Luisa Grünhutová
What is this guy holding and pointing at everyone?

Thank you!
Taiwanese ambassador to Finland performs with his metal band at Taiwan-Finland cultural event! 🤘✊️
That's what I call great ambassador

white sweats/hoodie with horns sewed on?