James Penha
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jamespenha.bsky.social
James Penha
@jamespenha.bsky.social
4.5K followers 6.1K following 1.4K posts
Poet. Editor of @NewVerseNews.bsky.social at http://newversenews.blogspot.com and https://thenewversenews.substack.com . Expat New Yorker living in Bali. he/him 🌈 💙 Story collection—Queer As Folk Tales—out now https://a.co/d/9GkGz81. https://jamespenha.com
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James Penha @jamespenha.bsky.social · Oct 3
The e-book of my collection Queer as Folk Tales where I gather ancient myths and legends and reimagine them with queer lovers at their heart is now published. Characters and narratives even straight people can enjoy ;-) a.co/d/9GkGz81 See the replies for other vendors.
Queer as Folk Tales
Amazon.com: Queer as Folk Tales eBook : Penha, James: Kindle Store
a.co
jamespenha.bsky.social
Thanks to DJ Tyrer for hosting my haiku today at 575haikujournal.wordpress.com/2025/11/26/h...
November 26, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Reposted by James Penha
newversenews.bsky.social
NVN Wednesday at Substack: #newspoems “The Book of Quiet Girls Who Burn” by Linda K. Sienkiewicz and “The Girl; A Diamond” by Jennifer Schneider thenewversenews.substack.com/p/nvn-wednes...
@literarybulletin.bsky.social
@blueskypoetry.bsky.social
@literaryreport.bsky.social
NVN Wednesday: Girls
“The Book of Quiet Girls Who Burn” by Linda K. Sienkiewicz and “The Girl; A Diamond” by Jennifer Schneider
thenewversenews.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:17 AM
jamespenha.bsky.social
@newversenews.bsky.social #poems “The Book of Quiet Girls Who Burn” by Linda K. Sienkiewicz and “The Girl; A Diamond” by Jennifer Schneider bit.ly/39DQ3WM
@rodmannix.bsky.social
@writingcommunity.bsky.social
@literarycommunity.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by James Penha
rbreich.bsky.social
This is how our government has been corrupted:

1) Donors give huge sums to elect politicians to office
2) Elected officials rewrite rules in the donors' favor
3) Donors make huge profit
4) Repeat

We must get big money out of politics.

It is the root of our dysfunction.
November 25, 2025 at 10:15 PM
jamespenha.bsky.social
“The terrible various” www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“The terrible various”
“This was the nature / of her humor.”
www.newyorker.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:53 AM
jamespenha.bsky.social
Times Analysis Finds Errors in Trump’s Supreme Court Filing That Calls for National Guard in Chicago www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Times Analysis Finds Errors in Trump’s Supreme Court Filing That Calls for National Guard in Chicago
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:54 AM
jamespenha.bsky.social
Swalwell Files Suit Against Housing Official, Claiming Privacy Law Violations www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Swalwell Files Suit Against Housing Official, Claiming Privacy Law Violations
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Reposted by James Penha
thetnholler.bsky.social
CARTOON OF THE DAY 🇺🇸
November 25, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Reposted by James Penha
hellobonjour.bsky.social
We should all be calling Trump "The dark triad"
November 25, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Reposted by James Penha
newversenews.bsky.social
NVN Tuesday at Substack: Lynne Barnes’ #newspoem “USAID” thenewversenews.substack.com/p/nvn-tuesda...
@literaryreport.bsky.social
@literarybulletin.bsky.social
@blueskypoetry.bsky.social
NVN Tuesday: USAID
by Lynne Barnes
thenewversenews.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Reposted by James Penha
edengk.bsky.social
STOP GENOCIDE AND ETHNIC CLEANSING FOR CASH

STOP TORTURE

STOP NAZI VANILLA ISIS
laurenunderwood.bsky.social Lauren Underwood @laurenunderwood.bsky.social · 1d
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.
November 25, 2025 at 10:47 AM
jamespenha.bsky.social
Lynne Barnes reacts in her @newversenews.bsky.social #poem to the destruction of “USAID” by the Dark Triad now in power in the U.S. newversenews.blogspot.com/2025/11/usai...
@writingcommunity.bsky.social @rodmannix.bsky.social
@literarycommunity.bsky.social
USAID
The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.
newversenews.blogspot.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
1/ THREAD: This year ICE has sent a record 600 immigrant kids into federal shelters, more than in the previous four years combined. Data suggests some are being separated from their families.

For one 15-year-old, it began with a cracked windshield 👇
Article excerpt: Shortly after 8 a.m., Carreto’s phone rang. It was Carlos, telling her an officer with the Florida Highway Patrol had pulled over the truck on Interstate 4 near Tampa. The stated reason: cracks in their windshield. But Carreto was worried. She knew Florida police were collaborating with federal immigration authorities. Her fiancé was undocumented. She says she rushed to the scene and made it there just before the immigration officers. As she feared, Matias had been detained. But to her surprise, so had Carlos. He was just a kid. (ProPublica is only identifying Carlos by his first name because he is a minor.) Carlos was in high school. He’d been living in the United States for over two years and was working toward applying for legal status to stay long term. The government had given her, a legal resident, custody of him. Now he was in handcuffs. Why would they take him too?
November 25, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
2/ Other separations were just as mundane. In South Carolina, a Colombian family showed up for a routine fingerprinting appointment, only for the parents to be detained while the children — ages 5, 11 and 15 — went into the federal shelter system for months.
November 25, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
3/ In South Florida, Operation Tidal Wave, a collaboration between ICE and state law enforcement, swept up a teenager and left him in federal custody after officers couldn’t make contact with his dad.

His dad is deaf.
November 25, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
4/ In Maryland, a 17-year-old born in Mexico made a wrong turn onto military property, was stopped by officers, then was sent to a shelter.
November 25, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
5/ Over and over, all over the country, that's all it took: a traffic stop.

We counted around 150 kids who ended up in federal shelters — oftentimes separated from their families — because they were in a vehicle that got pulled over.
ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.
Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the count...
www.propublica.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
6/ The federal shelter system was set up to house and help reunite "unaccompanied" immigrant children with family in the U.S., usually after the kids crossed the border alone.

Now the system has been turned on its head. The administration is “creating unaccompanied children," one advocate told us.
November 25, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
7/ Once kids are in federal shelters, they're increasingly stuck there.

The average length of stay has grown from one month under Biden to nearly six months under Trump as the administration has increased vetting of sponsors. Lengthy stays are leading some children to lose hope.
November 25, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
8/ So why are children being left to languish in federal shelters?

Advocates for immigrant kids believe it's to pressure them to self-deport. Last week, lawyers obtained a document the government provides to kids in the shelter system:
Document in both English and Spanish. The English section (top) reads: You have been identified as an unaccompanied minor. This information is intended to provide clarity about the steps involved. You have the option to voluntarily return to your country of origin, and you can return to your country within 72 hours. If you choose to voluntarily return to your country, there will be no administrative consequence, and you will still have the opportunity to apply for a visa, through legal means in the future. If you choose to seek a hearing with an immigration judge or indicate a fear of returning to your country, you can expect the following: -You will be detained in the custody of the United States Government, for a prolonged period of time. -If your sponsor in the United States does not have legal immigration status, they will be subject to arrest and removal from the United States. The sponsor may be subject to criminal prosecution for aiding your illegal entry. -If you cannot substantiate your claim of fear of returning to your country, you can be barred from legally applying for a visa. -If you turn 18 years of age while in U.S. Government custody, you will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal (deportation) from the United States. This can result in being barred from applying for a visa in the future.
November 25, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
9/ The pressure on immigrant families is reminiscent of the “zero tolerance” policy during Trump’s first term, when kids were taken systematically from parents at the border.

Only now the separations are happening all over, on our streets and in our neighborhoods.
November 25, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
10/ The administration says it wants to keep kids safe, and has upped vetting requirements before sponsors can come claim them out of the shelters.

The White House said they were “ensuring that unaccompanied minors do not fall victim” to dangerous conditions.
November 25, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by James Penha
propublica.org
11/ Read our full investigation:
ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.
Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the count...
www.propublica.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Reposted by James Penha
petrep.bsky.social
"The Attorney General of the United States has set a new low for this committee," Whitehouse said.

Shouldn't doing what Pam Bondi is accusing James Comey of doing be a scandal that would make her have to resign? In her case it's is easily proven that she lied to the committee.
November 23, 2025 at 6:11 PM
jamespenha.bsky.social
Utterly charming poem-a-day by Benjamin Garcia today at poets.org/poem/egg-too...
Egg Tooth
Ears are the eyes on the sides of your head. / Memory lives here, between these apostrophes.
poets.org
November 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM