Evil Orc Heart
@evanurquhart.bsky.social
31K followers 840 following 7.5K posts
The personal account of Evan Urquhart of Assigned Media (assignedmedia.org), your trans news source. I'd still rather be playing pinball.
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evanurquhart.bsky.social
I just keep touching the stove to check if it's still hot
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
annecaprara.bsky.social
Greg has correctly articulated our theory of the case - and accurately laid out the one battleground on which Governors and other electeds can successfully fight the feds, other than the courts (and there is delicate strategy there as well that I’m not sure everyone fully appreciates.)
gregsargent.bsky.social
JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom are doing something new and important: They understand Stephen Miller's theory of fascist power politics, and they've developed a theory on how to combat it. More Dems need to reckon with Miller's understanding of the moment.

New from me:
newrepublic.com/article/2014...
Inside Stephen Miller’s Secret Plan to Normalize Trump’s Dictator Rule
He wants to supercharge searing civil tensions to get low-information voters to embrace their inner authoritarian. Exactly two Democrats appear to fully grasp this.
newrepublic.com
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
lollardfish.bsky.social
It’s not too late for the Bluesky admins to say - yeah, ok, a permanent ban was an overreaction. Times are tough. Let’s try again. They could do it right now.
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
wordsmithgetxo.bsky.social
In an old ad for board game Scattergories in Spain a player was shown flouncing out while anothet said “OK, we’ll accept ‘octopus’ as a pet”.
“Aceptamos pulpo” has now entered the language in the meaning of “that’s a bit of a stretch but let’s go with it just for the sake of argument”.
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
tpwrtrmnky.bsky.social
Oslo University Hospital caught using trans patients' journals for research purposes:
- Without the patients' consent to participate in research
- Affecting minors
- 1700 of them
- Taking highly sensitive information from said journals

This is a HUGE breach.
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
damselindystopia.bsky.social
The way that major healthcare institutions have just decided the rules don't apply when it comes to trans people. Research ethics? Consent? Basic human dignity? Those would just be too inconvenient and it's only a bunch of trannies.
tpwrtrmnky.bsky.social
Oslo University Hospital caught using trans patients' journals for research purposes:
- Without the patients' consent to participate in research
- Affecting minors
- 1700 of them
- Taking highly sensitive information from said journals

This is a HUGE breach.
aninehartmann.bsky.social
Tidligere i år meldte vi et forskningsprosjekt til redelighetsutvalget ved OUS og UiO.

Nå er forskerne felt for alvorlige brudd på forskningsetiske normer.
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
kissphoria.bsky.social
Man, if you're going to share a screenshot of the story and a screenshot of an X post of someone else sharing the story, just share the fucking link! wacobridge.org/2025/10/06/d...
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
kalish.bsky.social
I didn't have Alito suggesting that states can't rely on medical consensus for standards of care bc it's been "politicized" or "taken over by ideology" in the past—and then immediately citing SCOTUS' forced sterilization case on my bingo card.

My rundown on today:
www.huffpost.com/entry/suprem...
Supreme Court Appears Poised To Hand The Religious Right Another Win
The case could have sweeping implications for LGBTQ+ youth and the regulation of health care across the country.
www.huffpost.com
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
cripdyke.bsky.social
At some point, lawyers arguing before SCOTUS must make clear - possibly even during oral argument - that SCOTUS is corrupt, led by a corrupt CJ, & acting in a manner entirely inconsistent w rule of law.

I love Madiba Dennie, & wouldn't disagree w anything said here, but this moment requires more.
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
jackjenkins.me
Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.
(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray.

“I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.”

But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire.

“We could hear them laughing,” Black said.
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
melissagiragrant.com
What we’re seeing now is not people “[beginning] to view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army”—the federal agents are becoming an occupying army, and the violence is theirs. The violence is already here.
calebcrain.bsky.social
Chilling insight by @barbarafwalter.com: "Once citizens view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this… They’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns."

via www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/o...
Screenshot from a NYT article by Thomas Edsall, quoting Barbara Walter of UC-San Diego: "The quickest way to piss people off is to send soldiers into their neighborhoods especially when there’s no reason for them to be there. It’s inherently provocative, and Trump and his team understand this. Research by the political scientist Robert Pape shows that the single most powerful predictor of suicide terrorism is the presence of foreign troops on local soil. People hate, hate, hate that. They hate the humiliation, the powerlessness, the feeling of being occupied.

"Once citizens begin to view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this. In fact, that’s the point. They are not trying to restore order; they’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns. In the end, violence serves their ultimate end: They want to create the illusion of disorder so they can tighten control and stay in power indefinitely."
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
audrelawdamercy.bsky.social
I've written my analysis of today's grim Supreme Court oral argument in the conversion therapy case:

As far as the Court's concerned, imaginary medical uncertainty gives states the authority to hurt queer kids, and takes away states' authority to protect them

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...
The Conservative Justices Don't Trust Any Science That Supports LGBTQ Kids
States that want to facilitate discrimination against LGBTQ people have the Court's blessing. States that want to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination do not.
ballsandstrikes.org
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
susanrinkunas.com
“Four months ago, in Skrmetti, the Court used purported medical uncertainty to give Tennessee more flexibility to discriminate. Today, Alito used purported medical uncertainty to give Colorado less flexibility to protect.”
audrelawdamercy.bsky.social
I've written my analysis of today's grim Supreme Court oral argument in the conversion therapy case:

As far as the Court's concerned, imaginary medical uncertainty gives states the authority to hurt queer kids, and takes away states' authority to protect them

ballsandstrikes.org/scotus/chile...
The Conservative Justices Don't Trust Any Science That Supports LGBTQ Kids
States that want to facilitate discrimination against LGBTQ people have the Court's blessing. States that want to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination do not.
ballsandstrikes.org
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
madycast.com
Hi, I'm a trans Californian who reported on the CA bills. This headline is misleading at best. You haven't noted that he has until the 12th to sign the other bills, leaving that out is irresponsible and fearmongers.

People can and should still pressure him on those bills.

bsky.app/profile/mady...
madycast.com
He hasn't signed the other bills yet, but he still has days to do so
This headline is misleading for not mentioning that.

The gender education veto is bad, but far from the most important trans rights bill on his desk.

There's still time to contact Newsom for the rest!

www.gov.ca.gov/contact/
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
jamellebouie.net
very cool that if you are working on behalf of right-wing culture warriors, you no longer need standing to have your claim adjudicated by the supreme court
tomscocca.bsky.social
It's not just that they're going to strike down a law against conversion therapy, it's that they're going to do it on behalf of made-up claims from a straw plaintiff who can't honestly show the law affected her at all
tomscocca.bsky.social
One thing about American's widespread distrust and disapproval of the Supreme Court is that mainstream news coverage mostly doesn't dwell on stuff like standing, so people don't even begin to grasp how rigged the Court truly is www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
flux.community
The Link banning controversy reveals Bluesky’s decentralized aspiration isn’t reality.

Bluesky’s protocol is so complicated that not even the biggest alternative, Blacksky, has been able to become independent plus.flux.community/p/banning-co...
Banning controversy reveals Bluesky’s federation isn’t there yet
Bluesky’s protocol is so complicated that not even the biggest alternative network has figured out how to become independent
plus.flux.community
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
idaclemens.bsky.social
Depressing and expected. Capitulation on sports and youth medicine requires science denial and adopting the view that trans people's genders are fictional and their hardships self-inflicted. Once you're there, you're against trans people, period.
lgbtqnation.com
Gavin Newsom vetoes gender education bill, declines to sign other trans protections - buff.ly/MTUAV85
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
marisakabas.bsky.social
seeing otherwise smart people share the story that a south carolina judge’s beach house was burned to the ground because of a ruling against trump despite there being no evidence of that has been frustrating. just because the other side has abandoned facts doesn’t mean we can, too.
Reposted by Evil Orc Heart
goosname.bsky.social
Absolutely fuck this guy. If Democrats nominate him, I’ll vote for the fucking Republican. You wanna hurt us? Then you should suffer too. Christ, what an asshole.
lgbtqnation.com
Gavin Newsom vetoes gender education bill, declines to sign other trans protections - buff.ly/MTUAV85