Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
@ajcousins.bsky.social
Queer romance author. Obsessive book buyer. Slow runner. Newly fascinated birder. She/her, bi. Rep'd by Handspun Literary Agency. Volunteer Child Advocate for detained immigrant kiddos. Views my own.
Pinned
I released a new audiobook last year and neglected to tell anyone! 😂 Grumpy-grumpy, found-family holiday romance.
Adam Beckett did a FANTASTIC job with this one. He's an amazing performer.
Glass Tidings: www.amazon.com/Audible-Glas...
Adam Beckett did a FANTASTIC job with this one. He's an amazing performer.
Glass Tidings: www.amazon.com/Audible-Glas...
I just got back from seeing my brother-in-law perform a 2hr set of original songs and some covers and HOLY SHIT, YOU GUYS. He's so good! I cried, like, seven times at his lyrics. And then laughed my ass off at two other songs.
Brb, gotta find out how you make a record...
Brb, gotta find out how you make a record...
November 26, 2025 at 5:18 AM
I just got back from seeing my brother-in-law perform a 2hr set of original songs and some covers and HOLY SHIT, YOU GUYS. He's so good! I cried, like, seven times at his lyrics. And then laughed my ass off at two other songs.
Brb, gotta find out how you make a record...
Brb, gotta find out how you make a record...
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
LISTEN UP!
December 1 is Monday.
This means I only have another 6 days to get an advent calendar to you.. Those days include Thanksgiving and a Sunday.
I will be doing a post office drop tomorrow! This is your last chance. I can't guarantee it'll get there by Monday, but it could!
SquidFacts.net
December 1 is Monday.
This means I only have another 6 days to get an advent calendar to you.. Those days include Thanksgiving and a Sunday.
I will be doing a post office drop tomorrow! This is your last chance. I can't guarantee it'll get there by Monday, but it could!
SquidFacts.net
November 25, 2025 at 11:22 PM
LISTEN UP!
December 1 is Monday.
This means I only have another 6 days to get an advent calendar to you.. Those days include Thanksgiving and a Sunday.
I will be doing a post office drop tomorrow! This is your last chance. I can't guarantee it'll get there by Monday, but it could!
SquidFacts.net
December 1 is Monday.
This means I only have another 6 days to get an advent calendar to you.. Those days include Thanksgiving and a Sunday.
I will be doing a post office drop tomorrow! This is your last chance. I can't guarantee it'll get there by Monday, but it could!
SquidFacts.net
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
NEW: An MPR News journalist was among those hit by less-lethal munitions and taken from the scene by ambulance. www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
Another federal agent operation in St. Paul draws large crowds of protesters
Gov. Tim Walz said state officials were monitoring a “chaotic” situation “and working to understand what unfolded. We received no heads up from federal authorities on this operation.”
www.mprnews.org
November 25, 2025 at 9:11 PM
NEW: An MPR News journalist was among those hit by less-lethal munitions and taken from the scene by ambulance. www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
ICE has just under four years to spend $29.9 billion, they are going to outsource AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE to contractors because money is essentially not a problem anymore for the agency.
NEW: ICE has torn up its $180M cap on a proposed immigrant-tracking program and is now guaranteeing private surveillance firms at least $7.5M each, with potential payouts reaching $281M per vendor. The change signals a shift from “pilot” to full-scale outsourcing of street-level investigative work.
ICE Offers Up to $280 Million to Immigrant-Tracking ‘Bounty Hunter’ Firms
Immigration and Customs Enforcement lifted a $180 million cap on a proposed immigrant-tracking program while guaranteeing multimillion-dollar payouts for private surveillance firms.
www.wired.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
ICE has just under four years to spend $29.9 billion, they are going to outsource AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE to contractors because money is essentially not a problem anymore for the agency.
"Earlier this month, Emmanuel disembarked from a plane and spotted his mother among a throng of families. He hurried, brushing past the crowd as his mother spread her arms.
He leaped, so hard that they both fell onto a sofa, weeping and locked in a tight embrace."
This is the new family separation.
He leaped, so hard that they both fell onto a sofa, weeping and locked in a tight embrace."
This is the new family separation.
Deported and Desperate to Be Reunited With Their Children
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
"Earlier this month, Emmanuel disembarked from a plane and spotted his mother among a throng of families. He hurried, brushing past the crowd as his mother spread her arms.
He leaped, so hard that they both fell onto a sofa, weeping and locked in a tight embrace."
This is the new family separation.
He leaped, so hard that they both fell onto a sofa, weeping and locked in a tight embrace."
This is the new family separation.
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
My readers will not be surprised to hear that DHS and DOJ lied their asses off in an emergency filing to the Supreme Court: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u... (gift link)
November 25, 2025 at 8:31 PM
My readers will not be surprised to hear that DHS and DOJ lied their asses off in an emergency filing to the Supreme Court: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u... (gift link)
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
While ICE abductions, often in broad daylight, have provoked fear and outrage, the escalation is also unleashing a less visible form of economic treachery on Chicago’s immigrant working class: wage theft, lost income, work speedups, and economic slumps that spread through neighborhoods. My latest.
Visible and Invisible: How ICE Is Terrorizing Chicago’s Working Class
Fear, panic, hiding for days—this is the experience of families under assault by the Trump Administration
inthesetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:03 PM
While ICE abductions, often in broad daylight, have provoked fear and outrage, the escalation is also unleashing a less visible form of economic treachery on Chicago’s immigrant working class: wage theft, lost income, work speedups, and economic slumps that spread through neighborhoods. My latest.
"Court proceedings that have yielded a striking paucity of criminal charges against detained Chicago residents suggest the entire operation was, like other federal raids unleashed in Democratic-led major cities, an exercise in state theatrics, meant to sow fear, shock & awe in targeted populations."
As CBP agents menaced Chicago area residents, caravans of protesters followed, honking their horns and blowing whistles...Protesters decked their vehicles out in anti-ICE flags, or scrawled things like “Bovino, you a BITCH” on the back windows of their pickup trucks.
The Counteroffensive Against Operation Midway Blitz
How Chicago residents and protesters banded together against the Trump administration's immigration shock troops.
www.thenation.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:24 PM
"Court proceedings that have yielded a striking paucity of criminal charges against detained Chicago residents suggest the entire operation was, like other federal raids unleashed in Democratic-led major cities, an exercise in state theatrics, meant to sow fear, shock & awe in targeted populations."
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
Happening now in Minnesota: Protestors were sprayed as ICE launched yet another federal raid in St. Paul. Communities are standing their ground while agents escalate force.
Photojournalist @DPet_KARE11News captured these scenes in real time.
Photojournalist @DPet_KARE11News captured these scenes in real time.
November 25, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Happening now in Minnesota: Protestors were sprayed as ICE launched yet another federal raid in St. Paul. Communities are standing their ground while agents escalate force.
Photojournalist @DPet_KARE11News captured these scenes in real time.
Photojournalist @DPet_KARE11News captured these scenes in real time.
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
We're piecing together these events and many more on our timeline and explainer on what's happening to medical research funding and what it means for all of us:
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
Medical Research Funding: Explainer — Unbreaking
How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.
unbreaking.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:29 PM
We're piecing together these events and many more on our timeline and explainer on what's happening to medical research funding and what it means for all of us:
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
unbreaking.org/issues/medic...
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
New analysis has revealed that the Trump administration terminated funding for 383 clinical trials between Jan and Aug 2025, affecting more than 74,000 participants.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Trump slashed spending on clinical trials. The toll is starting to become clear.
Grants for 383 clinical trials were terminated and the funding disruptions affected more than 74,000 trial participants, according to new research.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:29 PM
New analysis has revealed that the Trump administration terminated funding for 383 clinical trials between Jan and Aug 2025, affecting more than 74,000 participants.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
This is called “chain refoulment” and it’s illegal under both U.S. and international law. And the State Department and ICE know very well what Ghana is doing and simply don’t care.
ICE deported a woman who owned a home in the US for 30 years. A judge banned ICE from deporting her to Sierra Leone where she had been tortured, so it deported her to Ghana, which kidnapped her and sent her back Sierra Leone anyway. ICE is part of this illegal conspiracy.
November 25, 2025 at 7:30 PM
This is called “chain refoulment” and it’s illegal under both U.S. and international law. And the State Department and ICE know very well what Ghana is doing and simply don’t care.
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
Lawyer for protesters to ICE bigwig Russell Hott: “Do you agree that it's unconstitutional to arrest people for being opposed to Midway Blitz?”
Hott: “No.”
Hott: “No.”
November 25, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Lawyer for protesters to ICE bigwig Russell Hott: “Do you agree that it's unconstitutional to arrest people for being opposed to Midway Blitz?”
Hott: “No.”
Hott: “No.”
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
Image from outside the Broadview, Illinois ICE detention center, taken September 26.
November 25, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Image from outside the Broadview, Illinois ICE detention center, taken September 26.
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
ICE deported a woman who owned a home in the US for 30 years. A judge banned ICE from deporting her to Sierra Leone where she had been tortured, so it deported her to Ghana, which kidnapped her and sent her back Sierra Leone anyway. ICE is part of this illegal conspiracy.
November 25, 2025 at 4:40 PM
ICE deported a woman who owned a home in the US for 30 years. A judge banned ICE from deporting her to Sierra Leone where she had been tortured, so it deported her to Ghana, which kidnapped her and sent her back Sierra Leone anyway. ICE is part of this illegal conspiracy.
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
Cool $10k journalism award opportunity for those covering immigrants, LTBTQ+ people, disabled people, and other marginalized communities!
cronkite.asu.edu/shaufler-prize
cronkite.asu.edu/shaufler-prize
November 25, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Cool $10k journalism award opportunity for those covering immigrants, LTBTQ+ people, disabled people, and other marginalized communities!
cronkite.asu.edu/shaufler-prize
cronkite.asu.edu/shaufler-prize
"We as Mexicans not only belong in the city, we helped create [Chicago]. … And when you go through an exhibit like this, there is no doubt of the amount that we have contributed to this part of the U.S. to the Midwest."
November 25, 2025 at 5:17 PM
"We as Mexicans not only belong in the city, we helped create [Chicago]. … And when you go through an exhibit like this, there is no doubt of the amount that we have contributed to this part of the U.S. to the Midwest."
"When we were willing to step back and make deals and disenfranchise entire groups of people, that is when our democracy faltered and that is when we lost our power." ❤️👇
"My mentor always tells me, 'Kim, dogs don’t bark at parked cars." They’re coming after critical race theory, 1619, intersectionality because these ideas mobilized people. They gave them the language to actually articulate what they were seeing with their own eyes," says Kimberlé Crenshaw.
November 25, 2025 at 3:54 PM
"When we were willing to step back and make deals and disenfranchise entire groups of people, that is when our democracy faltered and that is when we lost our power." ❤️👇
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
“If the panel, composed of two Trump appointees and one Reagan appointee, had bothered to consider Ellis’s fact-finding and analysis, they would have found a meticulous accounting of the Trump administration’s practices of violating constitutional rights and lying to justify its actions.”
Three GOP appeals judges swooped in last week to lift a lower court order which told the Trump admin to stop brutalizing protesters, priests, & press in Chicago
I played the connect-the-dots game to see how they justified their decision--it's a hot mess, tbqh!
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
I played the connect-the-dots game to see how they justified their decision--it's a hot mess, tbqh!
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...
How Conservative Judges Turned a Throwaway Line Into a Free Pass For ICE Violence
For these judges, the White House not getting its way is a legal crisis that requires immediate intervention.
ballsandstrikes.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:33 PM
“If the panel, composed of two Trump appointees and one Reagan appointee, had bothered to consider Ellis’s fact-finding and analysis, they would have found a meticulous accounting of the Trump administration’s practices of violating constitutional rights and lying to justify its actions.”
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
Welp it’s gotten real real if you can please help. If you can’t it’s really hard out here so share
gofund.me/a5ee0064
gofund.me/a5ee0064
April 10, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Welp it’s gotten real real if you can please help. If you can’t it’s really hard out here so share
gofund.me/a5ee0064
gofund.me/a5ee0064
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
My colleague, Dr. Vahid Abedini, was illegally detained by ICE on Saturday. He is currently being held without a court date in sight, despite being in the country legally. Please spread the word! We must ensure his due process rights are upheld. www.oudaily.com/news/ou-prof...
OU College of International Studies professor reportedly arrested by ICE
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly arrested an OU professor at Will Rogers International Airport Saturday.
www.oudaily.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:05 PM
My colleague, Dr. Vahid Abedini, was illegally detained by ICE on Saturday. He is currently being held without a court date in sight, despite being in the country legally. Please spread the word! We must ensure his due process rights are upheld. www.oudaily.com/news/ou-prof...
Reposted by Amy Jo (AJ) Cousins
Today, after months of requests, I toured the Broadview ICE Processing Facility. I want to share what I saw.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
November 25, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Today, after months of requests, I toured the Broadview ICE Processing Facility. I want to share what I saw.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
The facility has no food vendor, no medical care, and detainees have to use toilets in the middle of shared cells. These are in no way suitable conditions to be holding anyone — period.
Alex's book recs always = immediate collapse of my willpower 😭
It’s Books We Love day! There are a ton of excellent titles to dig into, and I’m going to link the 8 books I wrote recommendations for in the thread below. apps.npr.org/best-books/#...
Books We Love
Here are 380+ great reads from 2025 handpicked just for you by NPR staffers and trusted critics.
apps.npr.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Alex's book recs always = immediate collapse of my willpower 😭