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 fear is turned up as high as it can go.”

Residents of Springfield, Ohio, are ramping up efforts to try to protect their community from the type of chaotic, violent assault by federal immigration agents that claimed two lives in Minneapolis in recent weeks.

19thnews.org/2026/01/ice-...
Fear, faith and preparation as ICE closes in on an Ohio community
In Springfield, faith-based coalitions are creating emergency hubs to care for children — and churches are preparing for their sanctuaries to be breached.
19thnews.org
Netanyahu, whom the International Criminal Court has charged with using starvation as a method of warfare and deliberately targeted civilians, has joined Trump's "Board of Peace" amid a 2.5-year assault on Gaza that has been described by many experts as a genocide.
www.reuters.com/world/middle...
Israel has joined Trump's 'Board of Peace,' Netanyahu says
Israel has joined U.S. President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" initiative, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday during his visit to Washington where he met Trump and Secretary of Stat...
www.reuters.com
February 12, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Pregnant immigrants in Minnesota have been postponing their abortions, skipping aftercare, and delaying birth control visits and urgent cancer screening follow-ups to avoid coming in contact with federal immigration agents.

19thnews.org/2026/02/abor... via @19thnews.org
Pregnant patients in Minnesota have postponed abortion appointments to avoid ICE
Planned Parenthood’s no-show rate has gone up almost 10 percent since the federal government’s Minnesota operation began.
19thnews.org
February 12, 2026 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
Watching these conspiracy theories start and spread in real time made me feel like I was about to have an aneurysm.

Learning that the church helping immigrants recieved threats and the schools received bomb threats broke my heart.

It's like 2024 all over again. Please be wary of content creators.
“The fear is turned up as high as it can go.”

Residents of Springfield, Ohio, are ramping up efforts to try to protect their community from the type of chaotic, violent assault by federal immigration agents that claimed two lives in Minneapolis in recent weeks.

19thnews.org/2026/01/ice-...
Fear, faith and preparation as ICE closes in on an Ohio community
In Springfield, faith-based coalitions are creating emergency hubs to care for children — and churches are preparing for their sanctuaries to be breached.
19thnews.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
What happens when a measles outbreak hits your state? For @drannieandrews.com, a pediatrician running for the U.S. Senate, it becomes a key issue on the campaign trail. My latest looks at a doctor who’s highlighting health care issues ahead of the midterms. 19thnews.org/2026/02/anni...
Measles is spreading in South Carolina. Could it make people vote for a pediatrician?
Dr. Annie Andrews is running for Lindsey Graham's Senate seat. She's one of several doctors seeking office during an election midterm year where health care issues are front and center.
19thnews.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:16 PM
How ‘pro-immigrant’ Tiktok ‘creators’ descended on Springfield and targeted the groups helping Haitians facing deportation 19thnews.org/2026/02/tikt...
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
February 12, 2026 at 2:16 PM
"They’re causing a lot of hassle, but they’re not really getting under my skin" — a Springfield, OH pastor says he is even more committed to his Haitian congregants after purportedly pro-immigrant TikTokers came to town and spread conspiracy theories about his ministry
19thnews.org/2026/02/tikt...
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
February 12, 2026 at 1:36 PM
AOC and Warren join forces in high-profile child care push ahead of midterms — @19thnews.org has exclusively learned that the New York rep is now the lead House sponsor of the Massachusetts senator's Child Care for Every Community Act. 19thnews.org/2026/02/aoc-...
AOC and Warren join forces in high-profile child care push ahead of midterms
As Republicans urge Americans to have more children but offer few supportive policies, Democrats believe reducing child care costs could be a winning message.
19thnews.org
February 12, 2026 at 1:16 PM
Last week, TikTok creators, finding none of the mayhem they expected to see in Springfield, started suggesting faith-based groups working with Haitian immigrants were misdirecting resources. Within 48 hrs, they concocted a child-trafficking conspiracy. 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
February 12, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Springfield braced for ICE, instead chaos came to town in the form of TikTok influencers 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
February 12, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
Bangladesh is heading into national elections today. The country faces many challenges, following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina in student-led protests last year. Reforms in the energy sector are also long overdue, as is a look at external debt crisis. ICYMI, a glimpse:

drilled.media/news/japan-b...
Debt and import dependency in Japan’s fossil financing for Bangladesh
With promises of Singapore- and Shanghai-style ports and businesses, Japan’s development agencies are pushing fossil fuel projects in Bangladesh
drilled.media
February 12, 2026 at 5:24 AM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
This is the second account - the first being in Chicago - of DHS agents mass detaining people and then *sorting them by race*.
More than 400 people, including hundreds of citizens, were “sorted” at gun point into racial and ethnic groups by 200 ICE agents who fired flash-bang grenades into cars with people inside, pointed guns at children & demanded their zip tied parents not comfort them. apple.news/Ausdx6kWtT0e...
Idaho families sue over immigration raid that swept up hundreds, including U.S. citizens — NBC News
About 400 people, including children and U.S. citizens, were detained for four hours while they were denied food and water in the raid, according to the lawsuit.
apple.news
February 12, 2026 at 2:26 AM
A Signal group chat has become a support system and a strategy hub for these Democratic women veterans running in high-stakes races. 19thnews.org/2026/02/hell... via @19thnews.org
Meet the Hell Cats — a key to Democrats’ hopes of taking the House
A Signal group chat has become a support system and a strategy hub for these Democratic women veterans running in high-stakes races.
19thnews.org
February 11, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Literally the first time I've wanted to use AI as a reporting tool because if it saves me listening to the manosphere in real time...
www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/how-...
How The New York Times uses a custom AI tool to track the “manosphere”
The daily podcast round-up is just one way the Times is adopting in-house AI transcription and summarization tools.
www.niemanlab.org
February 11, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
My husband just texted me there's a downhill skier called Breezy Johnson in the same year that the ski jumpers are in trouble for letting out the crotches of their suits and this cannot be true?!
February 11, 2026 at 4:08 AM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
A Norwegian biathlete won an Olympic bronze medal — and then confessed to cheating on his girlfriend
Olympian Makes Jaw-Dropping Confession After Bronze Win — But It's Not What You'd Expect
The Norwegian biathlete made a stunning, personal admission in a post-race interview at the Milan Cortina Games.
www.huffpost.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Now that I'm safely inside and had some time to reset my central nervous system: skunks are adorable.
Y’all. I’m a hostage in my car with a skunk outside. Help! #countryskeets
February 11, 2026 at 2:40 AM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
Hours after Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum shot a Chicago woman 5 times, his boss, Cmdr. Greg Bovino, emailed him about extending his mandatory retirement.
"In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much left to do!!” Bovino wrote
Story:
www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/10/m...
Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino praised agent after shooting Marimar Martinez in Chicago, evidence shows
A trove of evidence was released Tuesday in the controversial shooting of Marimar Martinez by a Border Patrol agent at the height of Operation Midway Blitz last October, including a body-worn camer…
www.chicagotribune.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:41 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
NEW via me and @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social: Cardinal Blase Cupich, who runs the Archdiocese of Chicago, says that DHS has stopped priests under his purview and demanded proof of citizenship “because of their color.” religionnews.com/2026/02/10/c...
Cardinal Cupich says feds stopped priests, demanded citizenship proof
(RNS) — ‘I’ve had some priests who are of a different color being targeted and arrested — stopped — because of their color and asking them to prove that they’re citizens. That’s not America,’ the Chic...
religionnews.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:53 PM
Y’all. I’m a hostage in my car with a skunk outside. Help! #countryskeets
February 11, 2026 at 12:14 AM
My sweet no-longer-babies Babies. Simone (rear) was the runt but the always has her paw around Georgie (front) — can't tell if it's to protect him or keep him in line or (most likely) both.
February 10, 2026 at 9:41 PM
Reposted by Amanda Becker
With the next No Kings announced, here's a snapshot of organizing in LA. I talked with a Desert Storm vet nurse, a caregiving activist disappeared by the Marcos regime, and a union organizer about the Filipino-American legacy of resistance. 19thnews.org/2026/02/fili...
The Filipino-American legacy of fighting for freedom is taking on Trump
Caregivers are applying lessons from resisting authoritarianism under Philippine dictator Marcos Sr. in the 1980s.
19thnews.org
February 10, 2026 at 7:42 PM
The GCs I've spoken to — I'd like to build a house in a rural area — say their workforces, at least those who still show up, are terrified of getting picked up by immigration agents and/or their estimates to build residential have gone up signficantly due to tariffs and related supply chain issues.
Trump: "Construction jobs are way up, right? Well, they're up because they're building all these factories all over the country. You have car plants under construction. I spoke to Mr. Toyota in Japan. I said, 'What's you name?' 'Toy-ota!' I said, 'If your name is Toyota you're a very rich guy.'"
February 10, 2026 at 9:32 PM
I’m watching Page One with my journalism class this week and damn do I love journalism to a tragic, self-sabotaging degree.
February 10, 2026 at 3:30 PM
My mid 70s Ohio dad (who doesn't speak Spanish) told me last night he hadn't watched a Super Bowl halftime show in many years, maybe since the 90s/early 2000s — but made a point to put Bad Bunny on. Thought he was catchy. Appreciated Ricky Martin. Wondered why Lady Gaga didn't sing in Spanish.
February 10, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Tonite I learned that the absolute latest one can procure Emergency Ice Cream in my Small Town, WV, is 10:59:00 b/c even tho we are the region's Big City w/ a 24-hr McD's the ice cream machine shuts off automatically at 11 to clean itself and doesn't reboot until 6 am (Allowing full min to dispense)
February 10, 2026 at 4:00 AM