Amanda Becker
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Amanda Becker
@amandabecker.bsky.social
Reporter @19thnews.org
Author YOU MUST STAND UP https://a.co/d/9HS7ife on abortion rights post Dobbs

Nieman Nation. Ohioan. WV Mtn Mama (to cats). D&E College Instructor. Pro-democracy in life & work.

OH-IN-NY-CA-DC-MA-DC-WV/OH

Signal: AmandaBecker.41
Pinned
“The destructive force they have brought is nearly immeasurable.”

TikTokers showed up in Springfield looking for ICE; instead, they launched conspiracies attacking the groups helping Haitians.

19thnews.org/2026/02/tikt... via @19thnews.org
TikTokers came to Springfield looking for ICE. Then the child trafficking rumors began.
The conspiracy theories have triggered chaos in the Ohio city, where Haitian immigrant families and the groups working with them are already on edge.
19thnews.org
Reposted by Amanda Becker
Republican-majority legislatures have continued to focus on abortion medication by proposing laws to further restrict them. GOP lawmakers are advancing bills that would allow people to sue out-of-state abortion providers and manufacturers. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/02/16/r...
Bipartisan efforts to boost birth control access emerge as GOP keeps pushing abortion pill bills • Ohio Capital Journal
Republican-majority legislatures have continued to focus on abortion medication by proposing legislation to further restrict mifepristone and misoprostol. GOP lawmakers are advancing bills that would…
ohiocapitaljournal.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
We cannot separate the history of the nation from the history of slavery.

George Washington was an enslaver. As President he brought enslaved people to Philadelphia, and rotated them out to evade a Pennsylvania law that promised emancipation after six months in the state. /1
February 16, 2026 at 6:13 PM
I will not put down a deposit on the adorable puppy I just got an email about. I will not put down a deposit on the adorable puppy I just got an email about. I will not put down a deposit on the adorable puppy I just got an email about. I will not put down a deposit on the adorable puppy ...
February 16, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Humans, tortoises. We are all One on this Earth.
On the island of Golem Grad in North Macedonia, nonstop attention from male tortoises seemed to be driving females to early deaths. On multiple occasions, scientists saw them throw themselves off the cliffs. nyti.ms/4rf0ToM
February 16, 2026 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
More states are requiring their Medicaid programs and health insurance companies to cover non-opioid pain medications as an alternative to opioids, which can be cheaper for insurers but also more addictive for patients. ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/02/16/r...
More states are requiring insurers to cover non-opioid pain meds • Ohio Capital Journal
More states are requiring their Medicaid programs and health insurance companies to cover non-opioid pain medications as an alternative to opioids, which can be cheaper for insurers but also more…
ohiocapitaljournal.com
February 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
The Bari Weiss hire, who appears in the Trump-Epstein files 1,838 times, wrote in a 2016 email: “I go into JE withdrawal when I don’t see him.” www.theguardian.com/media/2026/f...
February 16, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Oh to have a newspaper in the nation's capital with local and health coverage...
February 16, 2026 at 4:38 PM
In fact, in my journalism class this semester (an intro skills course) I did NOT ban AI because I told them I'd never seen a student use it to produce a news story I'd given an A so they could use it if they wanted to be a B-C student.
I found letter from Plain Dealer editor who blames a college student's school for them rejecting job in which AI writes the copy. I went into journalism because I love to report - so much I am still a reporter 20 years in. This is still absurd. RUN from this mgmt
www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02...
Journalism schools are teaching fear of the future: Letter from the Editor
Journalism schools lag in teaching AI, crucial for modern reporting, which aids in efficient news gathering and frees reporters for fieldwork.
www.cleveland.com
February 16, 2026 at 4:07 PM
There is a massive gulf btwn "AI is bad never use it" and "we're going to use AI to write stories instead of humans." For STARTERS, how would an entry-level reporter ever learn the news judgment of what goes in/out of a story if AI doing it for them, then editor "checking" it? Just for starters.
I found letter from Plain Dealer editor who blames a college student's school for them rejecting job in which AI writes the copy. I went into journalism because I love to report - so much I am still a reporter 20 years in. This is still absurd. RUN from this mgmt
www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02...
Journalism schools are teaching fear of the future: Letter from the Editor
Journalism schools lag in teaching AI, crucial for modern reporting, which aids in efficient news gathering and frees reporters for fieldwork.
www.cleveland.com
February 16, 2026 at 3:51 PM
I found letter from Plain Dealer editor who blames a college student's school for them rejecting job in which AI writes the copy. I went into journalism because I love to report - so much I am still a reporter 20 years in. This is still absurd. RUN from this mgmt
www.cleveland.com/news/2026/02...
Journalism schools are teaching fear of the future: Letter from the Editor
Journalism schools lag in teaching AI, crucial for modern reporting, which aids in efficient news gathering and frees reporters for fieldwork.
www.cleveland.com
February 16, 2026 at 3:49 PM
I teach much of my journalism class pen-and-paper, phones put away. If they told me a "reporting" job they were interested in did this, I'd tell them to run.
Stumbled upon a piece by an editor ridiculing a college student who withdrew from consideration for a reporting role because the publication outsourced all the writing to AI (yes, all the writing), and there’s so many parts of this that make my head spin with anger.
February 16, 2026 at 1:58 AM
Also pointed out a witchcraft store and told her it's run by "real" witches (it is!) and that my niece got a poppet there that she used to "cure" my mom's upset stomach. So covering all my bases here with The Young.
Ferried a 6yo to dinner & she was going through the books in my back seat, one of which is Bernays' Propaganda. She asked what "propaganda" meant. I said: "When a person, org or gov't uses lies & deception to get you to like something" & I think that is a decent on-the-fly, age-approp definition.
February 16, 2026 at 12:55 AM
Ferried a 6yo to dinner & she was going through the books in my back seat, one of which is Bernays' Propaganda. She asked what "propaganda" meant. I said: "When a person, org or gov't uses lies & deception to get you to like something" & I think that is a decent on-the-fly, age-approp definition.
February 16, 2026 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) on ABC this morning said, "This is the Epstein administration," and that President Trump is "still in with the Epstein class."

On whether he has confidence in Pam Bondi as attorney general: "I don’t think Pam Bondi has confidence in Pam Bondi."
February 15, 2026 at 2:57 PM
I've been reading the COINTELPRO files from the Cincinnati division. The level of work they put into monitoring Antioch College students was remarkable. Powerful men so scared of student idealism that they're breaking the law to stalk them.
February 15, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
Unlike in Europe, officials in the U.S. with ties to Epstein have largely held their positions of power. trib.al/NS4Lf8H
Epstein files fallout takes down elite figures in Europe, while U.S. reckoning is muted
Unlike in Europe, officials in the U.S. with ties to Epstein have largely held their positions of power.
trib.al
February 14, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.

The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.

But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.
February 13, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
In Munich, AOC warns that democracies must deliver for the working class to stave off 'authoritarianism' www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...
In Munich, AOC warns that democracies must deliver for the working class to stave off 'authoritarianism'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave a rare glimpse into her views on foreign policy at the Munich Security Conference, while sidestepping when asked "when" she'll run for president.
www.nbcnews.com
February 14, 2026 at 6:32 PM
This show is so uniquely American. They should show it at the 250th.
Watching the premiere of HBO’s Neighbors and seriously considering suggesting it my mountain HOA — involved in 3 lawsuits they want to take to the Supreme Court 🙄 — as a reply all but I fear they’d think it was a good thing.
February 14, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Watching the premiere of HBO’s Neighbors and seriously considering suggesting it my mountain HOA — involved in 3 lawsuits they want to take to the Supreme Court 🙄 — as a reply all but I fear they’d think it was a good thing.
February 14, 2026 at 6:07 PM
"Among nearly 100 sworn statements filed in federal court on Friday are more than a dozen accounts in which federal agents deployed to Minnesota singled out protesters, finding the addresses of their homes and showing up there."

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/u...
ICE Agents Menaced Minnesota Protesters at Their Homes, Filings Say
www.nytimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 12:04 PM
TikTok and other social media influencers are destabilizing entire communities with their antics, whether it's in Tucson about a high-profile kidnapping, or Ohio, spreading rumors about groups working with Haitian immigrants. 19thnews.org/2026/02/tikt...
February 13, 2026 at 9:49 PM
NELP, an org that has for 60 years advocated for workers' rights, is laying off up to 60 percent of its staff after mismanagement that includes inflated executive salaries — one ex: a 160k year-over-year increase for ED — as well as low-key union busting and other tactics.
Please share this thread and read our statement:
February 13, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: “I was literally begging the agent who was holding me back to let me do CPR,” she told The Intercept.
The Woman Alex Pretti Was Killed Trying to Defend Is an EMT. Federal Agents Stopped Her From Giving First Aid.
One of the women Alex Pretti was killed trying to defend is an EMT. Federal agents stopped her from giving him first aid.
interc.pt
February 13, 2026 at 3:25 PM
Just had to google who this is. I've covered national politics for close to 20 years. I know I'm maybe not the average American voter but that can't be a good sign.
Stephen A. Smith tells CBS News’s Robert Costa that he is moving closer to a 2028 Presidential campaign, in an interview to air Sunday.
February 13, 2026 at 5:36 PM