Melissa Vanden Bout
@docvanden.bsky.social
Ethicist and troublemaker. The only way out is through. The only way through is together. (she/her) 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🇵🇸
Pinned
(For now, my latest article.)
Betray can mean “break faith,”or it can mean “reveal.” In its choices about who it protects and who it identifies as a threat, an institution tells us who it really was all along.
My story of institutional betrayal: www.advancejournal.org/article/94664
Betray can mean “break faith,”or it can mean “reveal.” In its choices about who it protects and who it identifies as a threat, an institution tells us who it really was all along.
My story of institutional betrayal: www.advancejournal.org/article/94664
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
A young mother separated from her 3-year-old and 7-year -old daughters who beg her to collect them. 11-year-old boy lives alone for 3 months, walking to 5th grade graduation by himself, administering his asthma meds with a nebulizer.
Photo: women sobbing at the airport when their kids don't arrive.
Photo: women sobbing at the airport when their kids don't arrive.
NEW: A growing number of children have been left in the care of relatives, neighbors & babysitters after parents have been deported by ICE.
Few countries have been as vocal as Venezuela, which claims 150 children have been separated.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/n...
Few countries have been as vocal as Venezuela, which claims 150 children have been separated.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/n...
Deported and Desperate to Be Reunited With Their Children
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:29 AM
A young mother separated from her 3-year-old and 7-year -old daughters who beg her to collect them. 11-year-old boy lives alone for 3 months, walking to 5th grade graduation by himself, administering his asthma meds with a nebulizer.
Photo: women sobbing at the airport when their kids don't arrive.
Photo: women sobbing at the airport when their kids don't arrive.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Normand Meunier is a Canadian man with quadriplegia who accessed MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) after being left for 96 hours on a stretcher in the ER.
His requests for a specialized mattress were denied.
He wasn't turned regularly.
He developed bed sores so bad, he opted to end his life.
His requests for a specialized mattress were denied.
He wasn't turned regularly.
He developed bed sores so bad, he opted to end his life.
November 25, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Normand Meunier is a Canadian man with quadriplegia who accessed MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) after being left for 96 hours on a stretcher in the ER.
His requests for a specialized mattress were denied.
He wasn't turned regularly.
He developed bed sores so bad, he opted to end his life.
His requests for a specialized mattress were denied.
He wasn't turned regularly.
He developed bed sores so bad, he opted to end his life.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
I’m sharing a Palestinian account every day and today is Ahmed. Ahmed was a driver but he lost his car and his home. He is trying to take care of his four children. Fires who is in dental school, Mohammed who finished his final year of high school, Halal, a 7th grader and Bisan, a 5th grader.
November 25, 2025 at 9:55 AM
I’m sharing a Palestinian account every day and today is Ahmed. Ahmed was a driver but he lost his car and his home. He is trying to take care of his four children. Fires who is in dental school, Mohammed who finished his final year of high school, Halal, a 7th grader and Bisan, a 5th grader.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
"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 1:26 PM
"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.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Israel has held 16-year-old American, Mohammed Ibrahim, without trial, for 9 months.
He has been denied contact with family & his health is deteriorating. He says he falsely confessed to throwing a rock after being beaten.
America needs to secure his release NOW.
He has been denied contact with family & his health is deteriorating. He says he falsely confessed to throwing a rock after being beaten.
America needs to secure his release NOW.
November 22, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Israel has held 16-year-old American, Mohammed Ibrahim, without trial, for 9 months.
He has been denied contact with family & his health is deteriorating. He says he falsely confessed to throwing a rock after being beaten.
America needs to secure his release NOW.
He has been denied contact with family & his health is deteriorating. He says he falsely confessed to throwing a rock after being beaten.
America needs to secure his release NOW.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Brasil's top court to Bolsonaro... GO TO JAIL NOW. Start that 27 years son, we don't care if you were hallucinating! WOW. Look at what a functioning democracy can do.
SIGH. Meanwhile, our supreme court just upholds everything the 38 count felon wants.
SIGH. Meanwhile, our supreme court just upholds everything the 38 count felon wants.
November 25, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Brasil's top court to Bolsonaro... GO TO JAIL NOW. Start that 27 years son, we don't care if you were hallucinating! WOW. Look at what a functioning democracy can do.
SIGH. Meanwhile, our supreme court just upholds everything the 38 count felon wants.
SIGH. Meanwhile, our supreme court just upholds everything the 38 count felon wants.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rutgerbregman.com's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Trump’s Fury at BBC Gets Unnerving Results with Pro-MAGA Edit Stunner
First, British Broadcasting Corporation execs resigned after Trump complained about a segment. Now the BBC edited out a line from a historian that was critical of Trump. Where does this end?
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:10 PM
NEWS --> BBC confirms to me that they did edit a line out of historian @rutgerbregman.com's speech. It called Trump "the most openly corrupt president in US history."
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
BBC also confirms this was done on the advice of lawyers. So Trump's threats worked.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Bibi is a good and trusted person who cares about others and the disabled and chronic illness community! If you can help out, know you're helping someone who needs it and will be using it responsibly!
Hello!! Here's my Ko-Fi goal to help with my surgery costs! The surgery itself is covered but stuff like the nasal splints (300$) & recovery items aren't covered. So any help is greatly appreciated!
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 2% of goal on Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/bibiblossoms...
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 2% of goal on Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/bibiblossoms...
Support Bibi
Support Bibi
ko-fi.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Bibi is a good and trusted person who cares about others and the disabled and chronic illness community! If you can help out, know you're helping someone who needs it and will be using it responsibly!
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Have I mentioned how awesome @bibiblossoms.bsky.social is?? Because seriously. Want to be a mensch and help with surgery recovery?
Hello!! Here's my Ko-Fi goal to help with my surgery costs! The surgery itself is covered but stuff like the nasal splints (300$) & recovery items aren't covered. So any help is greatly appreciated!
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 2% of goal on Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/bibiblossoms...
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 2% of goal on Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/bibiblossoms...
Support Bibi
Support Bibi
ko-fi.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Have I mentioned how awesome @bibiblossoms.bsky.social is?? Because seriously. Want to be a mensch and help with surgery recovery?
Love Bibi. Chip in here if you can, and be sure to stop by her store—their stuff is fantastic and so clever.
Hello!! Here's my Ko-Fi goal to help with my surgery costs! The surgery itself is covered but stuff like the nasal splints (300$) & recovery items aren't covered. So any help is greatly appreciated!
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 2% of goal on Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/bibiblossoms...
🟩⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 2% of goal on Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/bibiblossoms...
Support Bibi
Support Bibi
ko-fi.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Love Bibi. Chip in here if you can, and be sure to stop by her store—their stuff is fantastic and so clever.
Help if you can.
South Chicago family taken by ICE and their daughter liquidating their store. See details posted by @pilsenfreestore on IG.
November 25, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Help if you can.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest survivor of The Tulsa Race Massacre passed away. Let’s honor her memory by remembering her story
November 25, 2025 at 4:47 AM
Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest survivor of The Tulsa Race Massacre passed away. Let’s honor her memory by remembering her story
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
I am so grateful to everyone who has stepped up to help this awesome member of our local SF trans nerd community. I know everything is hard right now but I'd be so incredibly grateful if you could spare a few bucks now.
We are working on helping her get a job, it's just a tough market right now 😭
We are working on helping her get a job, it's just a tough market right now 😭
i should have got this up sooner, but i was ashamed; need to try to raise money for rent again this month and i remain (mostly; might have PT work!) unemployed as we approach year end.
please help me keep myself and my partner housed.
#helpsky #MARequest #transcrowdfund
ko-fi.com/iafishman/go...
please help me keep myself and my partner housed.
#helpsky #MARequest #transcrowdfund
ko-fi.com/iafishman/go...
November 22, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I am so grateful to everyone who has stepped up to help this awesome member of our local SF trans nerd community. I know everything is hard right now but I'd be so incredibly grateful if you could spare a few bucks now.
We are working on helping her get a job, it's just a tough market right now 😭
We are working on helping her get a job, it's just a tough market right now 😭
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
Phil Knight is almost single handedly funding the OR GOP, one of the more extreme state GOPs in the country. Keep that in mind next time you’re in the market for sportswear or sneakers. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
Nike co-founder Phil Knight makes record-setting donation to help elect Republicans
It is the single largest donation Knight has made to an Oregon candidate or political action committee.
www.oregonlive.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Phil Knight is almost single handedly funding the OR GOP, one of the more extreme state GOPs in the country. Keep that in mind next time you’re in the market for sportswear or sneakers. www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
My aunt once cooked the turkey upside-down. Came running out of the kitchen screaming the turkey had no breasts. For years, everyone since asked if the turkey had breasts.
November 25, 2025 at 2:08 AM
My aunt once cooked the turkey upside-down. Came running out of the kitchen screaming the turkey had no breasts. For years, everyone since asked if the turkey had breasts.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
My grandmother used to add a spoonful of sugar to the peas. No one else did.
The first year she hosted but not cooked, the oldest added a spoonful of sugar “for granny.” So did the youngest. And middle. And their partners. And the grandchilden. AND GRANNY.
27 spoonfuls of sugar.
Candied peas.
The first year she hosted but not cooked, the oldest added a spoonful of sugar “for granny.” So did the youngest. And middle. And their partners. And the grandchilden. AND GRANNY.
27 spoonfuls of sugar.
Candied peas.
November 25, 2025 at 1:27 AM
My grandmother used to add a spoonful of sugar to the peas. No one else did.
The first year she hosted but not cooked, the oldest added a spoonful of sugar “for granny.” So did the youngest. And middle. And their partners. And the grandchilden. AND GRANNY.
27 spoonfuls of sugar.
Candied peas.
The first year she hosted but not cooked, the oldest added a spoonful of sugar “for granny.” So did the youngest. And middle. And their partners. And the grandchilden. AND GRANNY.
27 spoonfuls of sugar.
Candied peas.
“A minor ham explosion.”
Do yourself a favor and read @clairewillett.bsky.social’s whole thread of crowd-sourced holiday cooking stories.
Do yourself a favor and read @clairewillett.bsky.social’s whole thread of crowd-sourced holiday cooking stories.
I caused a minor ham explosion prepping for Christmas Eve dinner.
And there was a whoomph and a visible fireball that actually blew the oven door open.
And there was a whoomph and a visible fireball that actually blew the oven door open.
November 25, 2025 at 2:26 AM
“A minor ham explosion.”
Do yourself a favor and read @clairewillett.bsky.social’s whole thread of crowd-sourced holiday cooking stories.
Do yourself a favor and read @clairewillett.bsky.social’s whole thread of crowd-sourced holiday cooking stories.
To its eternal shame, the U.S. has forever prevented even a single survivor of this atrocity from receiving anything like justice in this life.
So now the very stones cry out.
So now the very stones cry out.
Viola Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre — when white attackers killed as many as 300 people, most of them Black — has died at age 111, the mayor said. She told Congress in 2021 that she lived through the massacre 'every day' reut.rs/4pt18LJ
November 24, 2025 at 11:03 PM
To its eternal shame, the U.S. has forever prevented even a single survivor of this atrocity from receiving anything like justice in this life.
So now the very stones cry out.
So now the very stones cry out.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
“Once, after the group bought out a tamale vendor’s cart, that man found them days later to say immigration agents were spotted on his block just hours after. ‘You saved my life,’ Rosales said the man told them.” apnews.com/article/chic...
Chicagoans buy out street vendors amid a federal immigration crackdown
Across Chicago’s Latino neighborhoods, fear of a federal immigration crackdown has emptied the streets.
apnews.com
November 23, 2025 at 10:16 PM
“Once, after the group bought out a tamale vendor’s cart, that man found them days later to say immigration agents were spotted on his block just hours after. ‘You saved my life,’ Rosales said the man told them.” apnews.com/article/chic...
Jesus, Jesus. Just evil.
A mother and her 15 year old autistic son are reunited after nearly 50 days apart.
Emmanuel Garcia went missing, and rather than check missing person’s reports, Houston PD called ICE.
ICE sent him to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and his mom has been fighting to get him back ever since.
Emmanuel Garcia went missing, and rather than check missing person’s reports, Houston PD called ICE.
ICE sent him to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and his mom has been fighting to get him back ever since.
November 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Jesus, Jesus. Just evil.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
I have been saying I wanted to write about this, so I am glad that I was able to just spend two solid days working on this story, basically without interruption. I haven’t had much of that since January, but it’s important, and I hope folks who appreciate it subscribe if they don’t already!
NEW: Multiple judges call out DOJ's methods of defending its invasive trans care subpoenas.
A trio of public rulings, including one on Friday, all side with providers. Two rulings also raised sharp questions about DOJ's moves in recent months.
Tonight, at Law Dork:
A trio of public rulings, including one on Friday, all side with providers. Two rulings also raised sharp questions about DOJ's moves in recent months.
Tonight, at Law Dork:
Multiple judges call out DOJ's methods of defending its invasive trans care subpoenas
A trio of public rulings, including one on Friday, all side with providers. Two rulings also raised sharp questions about DOJ's moves in recent months.
www.lawdork.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:37 AM
I have been saying I wanted to write about this, so I am glad that I was able to just spend two solid days working on this story, basically without interruption. I haven’t had much of that since January, but it’s important, and I hope folks who appreciate it subscribe if they don’t already!
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
BREAKING: Federal judge rejects DOJ's effort to subpoena the names and medical records of children who have received gender-affirming medical care from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 21, 2025 at 10:26 PM
BREAKING: Federal judge rejects DOJ's effort to subpoena the names and medical records of children who have received gender-affirming medical care from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
It’s official. @dougjones.bsky.social will run against Tommy Tuberville for Alabama governor. www.al.com/life/2025/11...
Doug Jones will enter 2026 Alabama governor’s race
Campaign paperwork is to be filed this week.
www.al.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:48 PM
It’s official. @dougjones.bsky.social will run against Tommy Tuberville for Alabama governor. www.al.com/life/2025/11...
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
gofund.me/dbd60eb45
Y’all, things are dire since my car has been stolen a week before our move. We were counting on having it. Things have been really rough & being on disability, which I’ve been on since my lymphoma diagnosis, limits my budget drastically. If you can help or share I’d be grateful.
Y’all, things are dire since my car has been stolen a week before our move. We were counting on having it. Things have been really rough & being on disability, which I’ve been on since my lymphoma diagnosis, limits my budget drastically. If you can help or share I’d be grateful.
Donate to Charlie’s Urgent Relocation Fund, organized by Kristen Maloney
My name is Kris, and I have created this GoFundMe on behalf of my partner, Charlie. T… Kristen Maloney needs your support for Charlie’s Urgent Relocation Fund
gofund.me
November 19, 2025 at 2:07 AM
gofund.me/dbd60eb45
Y’all, things are dire since my car has been stolen a week before our move. We were counting on having it. Things have been really rough & being on disability, which I’ve been on since my lymphoma diagnosis, limits my budget drastically. If you can help or share I’d be grateful.
Y’all, things are dire since my car has been stolen a week before our move. We were counting on having it. Things have been really rough & being on disability, which I’ve been on since my lymphoma diagnosis, limits my budget drastically. If you can help or share I’d be grateful.
Reposted by Melissa Vanden Bout
I'm about $600 shy of my personal $4,000 fundraising goal for Scarleteen: Please help me get there so I can stop harassing people to donate, TYIA
www.classy.org/fundraiser/6...
www.classy.org/fundraiser/6...
Scarleteen holds survivors of abuse and assault close to our hearts. When people come to us seeking help, whether one on one through our direct services or via our library of resources, we support them, wherever they are.
November 23, 2025 at 10:00 PM
I'm about $600 shy of my personal $4,000 fundraising goal for Scarleteen: Please help me get there so I can stop harassing people to donate, TYIA
www.classy.org/fundraiser/6...
www.classy.org/fundraiser/6...