Susan Rinkunas
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susanrinkunas.com
Susan Rinkunas
@susanrinkunas.com
Journalist and cofounder @autonomynews.co‬. Seen in: Jezebel, The New Republic, The Guardian, Slate, The Nation, Democracy Docket. WGAE Council. From PA, now in BK

http://linktr.ee/susanrinkunas
Email: susanrinkunaswrites @gmail
Signal: susanrinkunas.73
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Good morning, internet, and welcome to a new publication that @garnethenderson.com and I have been working on for months
Hello world! We are Autonomy News, a new worker-owned reproductive justice news outlet cofounded by @garnethenderson.com and @susanrinkunas.com.

Our reporting will never be paywalled, and you can support our work with a subscription to keep it free for everyone.
Welcome to Autonomy News
Welcome to Autonomy News, a new publication created and owned by two reproductive rights and justice journalists. We write about bodily autonomy and the attacks levied by politicians and activists wh...
www.autonomynews.co
Video form: how cops weaponize laws against grave robbing to lock up women and pregnant people:

TT www.tiktok.com/t/ZThkRuSgM/
IG www.instagram.com/reel/DTjvn3j...
Cops want to arrest women so badly they’ll use a charge meant for grave robbers and laws that explicitly say they can’t charge pregnant people #reproductiverights #abortionpill #kentucky #brittanywatt...
TikTok video by Susan Rinkunas
www.tiktok.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Made a video about how cops weaponize laws against grave robbing(!) to lock up women and pregnant people:

TT www.tiktok.com/t/ZThkRuSgM/
IG www.instagram.com/reel/DTjvn3j...
January 18, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
Calling them “protests” is lazy, inaccurate and plays into the false narrative that’s being used to justify further escalation by the federal government. 3/3
January 18, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
The vast majority of what’s happening is communal self-defense. It’s not an about agitating or escalating. The whistles, the honking, the yelling — these are efforts by people to warn and protect their neighbors. 2/3
January 18, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
National media: Please stop describing what’s happening in Minneapolis as “protests.” There has been a modest, sustained protest outside the Whipple federal building, about 10 miles from downtown, but... 1/3
January 18, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
In the last 18 days alone:

- Two men in ICE custody have killed themselves (jails are supposed to protect against this)
- Two men died of cardiac-related issues
- One man was reportedly choked to death by a guard
- One man died of fentanyl withdrawal (family question the medical care provided)
A third immigrant held at Camp East Montana has died, reportedly by suicide. Victor Manuel Díaz was detained in Minnesota. He is the sixth migrant to die since Jan. 1 in ICE detention.

My story:

www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/i...
January 18, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
Barf Bag: The former Senator and current lobbyist is being sued under an "alienation of affection" law for a saga involving Signal chats, concerts, and psychedelics.
www.jezebel.com/kyrsten-sine...
Kyrsten Sinema Faces 'Homewrecker' Lawsuit for Alleged Affair With Former Bodyguard
Barf Bag: The former Senator and current lobbyist is being sued under an "alienation of affection" law for a saga involving Signal chats, concerts, and psychedelics.
www.jezebel.com
January 17, 2026 at 12:16 AM
“the Working Families Party launched a new website, PrimaryFetterman.com, that will serve as a hub for its effort to unseat the senator. It features pages dedicated to opposition research on him, volunteer recruitment and even a link to request donation refunds from his campaign” -via NBC
Refund Your Fetterman Campaign Contributions
Did you donate to John Fetterman's campaign? Are you disappointed in what he's become? Request a full refund of your past contributions!
www.primaryfetterman.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:31 PM
Yikesie: “In Pennsylvania, [insurance plan] terminations have more than tripled, to above 70,000, officials say, and are still growing.”
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
70,000 Pennie customers have dropped their plans as price hikes loom for health insurance
It is unclear whether Congress will strike a deal to bring back tax credits that have helped make health insurance more affordable.
www.inquirer.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:28 PM
The bill in question was the one to end the shutdown that let enhanced ACA subsidies expire, and yikes:
Fetterman has no regrets about ending shutdown without deal on Obamacare subsidies
The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on a Democratic bill extending Obamacare subsidies for three years, but it is virtually certain to fail.
www.pennlive.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:24 PM
OOP: “While Fetterman is supporting Trump’s use of American tax dollars to ‘run’ Venezuela or buy Greenland, 500,000 Pennsylvanians are about to see their health care premiums rise because of the Republican budget bill he supported,” said Nick Gavio [of the WFP] and *a former Fetterman staffer*.
Progressive effort to primary Sen. John Fetterman ramps up
The Working Families Party launched a website where, among other efforts, voters can request refunds from Fetterman’s campaign.
www.nbcnews.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
Make America Healthy Again™️

“The guidelines also removed longstanding warnings that drinking could increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other maladies….”
Inside the Alcohol Lobby’s Quest to Water Down Federal Booze Guidelines
The alcohol industry spent big lobbying the government in late 2025 as it dealt with major threats to its business.
www.notus.org
January 18, 2026 at 5:43 PM
Make America Healthy Again™️

“The guidelines also removed longstanding warnings that drinking could increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other maladies….”
Inside the Alcohol Lobby’s Quest to Water Down Federal Booze Guidelines
The alcohol industry spent big lobbying the government in late 2025 as it dealt with major threats to its business.
www.notus.org
January 18, 2026 at 5:43 PM
January 18, 2026 at 3:59 AM
They’re trying to deport witnesses to a murder by ICE guards
The Trump administration is seeking to deport two men who provided accounts of the Jan. 3 death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at a Texas detention camp that differed from the Department of Homeland Security’s description of the incident.
DHS seeking to deport two men who said fellow ICE detainee was killed
The two men’s eyewitness accounts of the Jan. 3 death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at a Texas detention camp differ from the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the incident.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 18, 2026 at 3:51 AM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
Makes me feel insane to live in a world that's persecuting trans folk while simultaneously doing big billboards advertising gender affirming care to cis people???
January 17, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
That there’s not a massive, credible, instant, bipartisan impeachment/25th Amendment move over these senseless and destructive Greenland threats is a sign of how broken our politics are — and especially how broken the Republican Party is.
It's really impossible to overstate how much *everyone* is watching the US threats towards Greenland, not just Europe. If you want to break not just NATO but Five Eyes and maybe our Asian defense alliances too, taking Greenland is how you do it.
Forcibly annexing Greenland would be a strategic catastrophe—for Europe, for Canada, and perhaps most especially for the United States itself.

My latest in @foreignpolicy.com on how we're all sleep-walking into a disaster: foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/06/g...
January 7, 2026 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
January 17, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
January 16, 2026 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
A rare photograph of Chuck in his Strongly Worded Memo Chair.
“democrats are ready to get to work”
January 16, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
New York, 1969
January 17, 2026 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
These are prisons.

The criminalization of homelessness and push towards mandated, coerced medical interventions and civil commitment—a bipartisan project—was always going to lead us here.

This is why when we talk about, strategize and organize around abolition, we must include ALL carceral spaces.
Under Trump, the draconian future of homelessness policy is coming into focus: mass internment. Utah is building a 16-acre site to detain up to 1,300 homeless people inside locked "accountability centers." This is profoundly alarming.

Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:
In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape
www.nytimes.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
It's been six months since the last round. This company hasn't known what it's doing for a long time, and getting rid of the DEI team screams it's about to be sold off. Solidarity to my former colleagues forever 🌺
Another year, another round of layoffs at Vox Media. In solidarity with our laid-off colleagues, here is our full statement:
January 16, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Susan Rinkunas
JUST IN: Virginia's legislature just adopted a constitutional amendment that would end Virginia's rules that ban people from voting for life.

Virginia currently is the only state that strips people of voting rights for life for any felony. Youngkin rolled back reforms.

Now going to a referendum.
Virginia Lawmakers Ask Voters to Repeal a Jim Crow-Era Lifetime Ban on Voting - Bolts
Voters will decide this year whether to end Virginia’s uniquely harsh felony disenfranchisement rules. They'll also vote on abortion, gay marriage, and redistricting.
boltsmag.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:21 PM