Meredith Shiner
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meredithshiner.com
Meredith Shiner
@meredithshiner.com
21K followers 1.4K following 8.7K posts
current twitter ex-pat. past congressional reporter. contributing editor @newrepublic.com. running a communications consulting business and raising a tiny baseball fan irl.

let’s work together! ⬇️

meredithshiner.com
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meredithshiner.com
Our son was born at a Northwestern hospital and sees a NU-affiliated pediatrician and it is really frustrating to know that he or any number of kids we know will be denied by this system care that otherwise would be provided under medical ethics but diverges from political ideology of those in power
Screenshot of the anti-trans provisions of the Northwestern/Trump administration extortion document: guidance. As of the Effective Date, Northwestern has reviewed and, where appropriate, revised University training modules to comply with the foregoing. 28. Northwestern will uphold its commitment to Title IX by providing safe and fair opportunities for women, including single-sex housing for any woman, defined on the basis of sex, who requests such accommodations and all-female sports, locker rooms, and showering facilities. 29. Northwestern and its Feinberg School of Medicine shall not perform hormonal interventions and transgender surgeries, including but not limited to mastectomies, phalloplasties, vaginoplasties, and/or any other procedure intended to alter an individual's sex characteristics, on any individual under the age of 18 years old, effective immediately upon the Effective Date of this Agreement. a. Northwestern shall revise all policies, protocols, and public-facing materials at Feinberg School of Medicine to reflect the commitment set forth in this paragraph on hormonal interventions and transgender surgeries to individuals under the age of 18 years old and ensure compliance with federal laws. b. Northwestern shall notify all faculty and administrators of the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwester's commitments set forth above regarding transgender surgeries on minors within thirty (30) days of the Effective Date. 30. Together with its first quarterly certification as set out in Paragraph 49, Northwestern shall submit a report to the Assistant Attorney General, confirming compliance with the preceding paragraph. The report shall include documentation of compliance, such as revised policy documents and copies of notifications sent.
November 29, 2025 at 2:52 AM
meredithshiner.com
my enduring memory of the Politico print edition is that my editors forced me to write a story that I didn't want to do/that bored me, but @mwuerker.bsky.social's art was so good for it they put it on the front page.
Cartoon Eric Cantor and Cartoon Chuck Schumer slingshotting tweet birds at each other
November 24, 2025 at 9:40 PM
meredithshiner.com
what is wrong with these people, part infinity (via @status.news)
Those second-guessing the magazine's editorial judgment, meanwhile, may have more fodder when they get their hands on a copy of the print edition of the Hollywood issue, which includes an abstract nude portrait of Nuzzi by sketch artist Isabelle Brourman, Status has learned from multiple people familiar. Brourman previously worked with Nuzzi multiple times at New York Magazine, including when Nuzzi visited Mar-a-Lago after the assassination attempt on Trump last year.
November 24, 2025 at 3:28 AM
meredithshiner.com
I will stand by these words forever.
I spent almost a decade covering the United States Senate. So, believe me when I tell you that I do not want to be a United States senator. Imagine having a job where your mere existence in the role is a symbol of democratic backsliding, where your leaders torture you by forcing.you to watch five-year-old videos of your co-worker microwaving canned tuna, and where you literally hold the same title and standing as Tommy Tuberville-an anthropomorphized ChatGPT answer to the question of "What if we gave a supposedly important position of public trust to someone too ignorant to know the three branches of government and too incompetent in his previous role to beat Vanderbilt in football?"
November 23, 2025 at 8:20 PM
meredithshiner.com
Peter Baker: A thinking man’s Olivia Nuzzi
Peter Baker Follow @peterbakernyt.bsky.social It was a memorial service much like the man, restrained and proper yet charged with quiet energy. But as Washington honored Dick Cheney for his service and devotion to country, it underscored how much politics has turned topsy in this country. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u.. Cheney Remembered for Transforming National Security and Standing Against Trump © www.nytimes.com Nov 20, 2025 at 10:23 PM Everybody can reply
November 21, 2025 at 4:56 AM
meredithshiner.com
I feel like this note should have been the art for your piece. I want to keep it in my digital back pocket to use like a meme moving forward.
"OK, well... this explains a lot." written in Ana Marie Cox's handwriting
November 20, 2025 at 10:00 PM
meredithshiner.com
The other day there was one of those viral posting things about “the perfect album when you were 16” and wtf bluesky I thought we were all exactly 38!!! How did no one post this.
Outlast’s Speakerboxxx / The Love Below album cover featuring photos of Big Boi in a big fur coat and Andre is a … white sash? With pearls
November 19, 2025 at 2:26 PM
meredithshiner.com
A friend from college texted me asking for advice and this was my first and immediate response.
A screenshot of a text exchange Today 11:22 AM Any good advice for when ICE arrives in Charlotte shortly? Whistles Everybody needs one Image of a popular chicago whistle pack zine WHY A WHISTLE? ON THE STREET: • A SIMPLE TOOL FOR FAST ALERTS. WHISTLES GUIDE PEOPLE TO: • LOUD. • FOLLOW ICE RECOGNIZABLE. CARAVANS IMPOSSIBLE TO • CATCH UP WITH THE IGNORE. CROWD • OUR VOICES ARE • ALERT NEIGHBORS TO STRONGER JOIN IN TOGETHER. NOISE = VISIBILITY. FORM A CROWD STAY LOUD PROTECT EACH OTHER CODE 1: ICE NEARBY BLOW IN A BROKEN RHYTHM: PRE-PRE-PRE-PRE! + ALERTS THE COMMUNITY THAT ICE AGENTS ARE IN THE AREA. CODE 2: CODE RED BLOW IN A CONTINUOUS, STEADY RHYTHM: + ICE IS DETAINING SOMEONE. FORM A CROWD, STAY LOUD. STAY NONVIOLENT. DON'T STAY SILENT.
November 15, 2025 at 10:48 PM
meredithshiner.com
Chicago over everybody.
Geoffrey Baer in his dreidel ugly Hanukkah sweater and Jill who says she’s currently learning about Hanukkah from Geoffrey Baer in an ugly Hanukkah sweater pushing us cozy WTTW socks and a dreidel set
November 14, 2025 at 2:52 AM
meredithshiner.com
excuse me my "all time top 25" is perfect 11/10 no notes

bubbel.blue
A bubble on a blue background containing a circular avatar of @meredithshiner.com in the middle, then arranged around @meredithshiner.com more circular avatars of people who @meredithshiner.com interacts with. The size of the circlular avatars are getting smaller as you move around and outwards representing less and less interaction. Avatars in order from most interaction to least interaction include @jzembik.bsky.social, @jamellebouie.net, @bubbaprog.xyz, @publichealthguy1.bsky.social, @whetmoser.com, @marisakabas.bsky.social, @jeradwalker.bsky.social, @dceiver.bsky.social, @greene.haus, @davidjroth.bsky.social, @sorayanadiamcdonald.com, @swin24.bsky.social, @chrisgeidner.bsky.social, @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social, @kevinmkruse.bsky.social, @kissphoria.bsky.social, @bencollins.bsky.social, @tomscocca.bsky.social, @darthbluesky.bsky.social, @coachfinstock.bsky.social, @brfreed.bsky.social, @maxberger.bsky.social, @lizzieohreally.bsky.social, @melodyschreiber.com, @misterjayem.bsky.social. A credit at the bottom right reads #bubbel All Time - Top 25 @meredithshiner.com's Interactions https://bubbel.blue
November 13, 2025 at 10:10 PM
meredithshiner.com
going through so many clips last night and this morning and grateful to the Fox32 cameraman who zoomed in on this in the media stakeout after the hearing. What an amazing couple and an indelible image as families are fighting for families, here in Chicagoland and nationwide.
Brian Straw and Shannon Craig Straw hold hands as they stand before reporters after Brian’s arraignment hearing, in a still from Fox 32 Chicago’s media stakeout video with the headline 'Broadview Six' speak after pleading not guilty at federal arraignment in Chicago The 'Broadview Six' spoke Wednesday afternoon after pleading not guilty at federal arraignment in Chicago.
November 13, 2025 at 4:42 PM
meredithshiner.com
I’m going to think about watching this moment unfold in real time for a long time.

for all the horrors coming out of Chicago and its metro area, the principled courage of everyday people, in the face of such intimidation, never ceases to astonish. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/12/k...
Most of the hearing was routine. At one point, however, Straw's attorney, Christopher Parente, lodged a largely symbolic objection over his client having to turn in his passport, calling him a "boring suburban dad" and saying his whole reason for going to the protest in the first place included objecting to the government checking people's passports and papers. Parente said it wasn't fair for Straw "to sit here now and ask him to turn his passport over to the government for no reason other than they think they can," adding that "landscapers arrested by ICE cannot stand up to the government." "Mr. Straw can, and your Honor can, too," Parente said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg said the passport was about bond conditions, not about what ICE is doing on the streets, and that defendants have turned in their passports "in every case I've had for 19 years." After McShain decided Straw did not have to turn in his passport, Mecklenburg said she'd drop the requirement for all defendants to ensure Straw was not receiving special treatment.
November 13, 2025 at 2:59 AM
meredithshiner.com
federal plaza across the street from the federal courthouse where six Chicago-area protesters are facing federal charges for exercising their first amendment right to protest
Protesters stand under the iconic Calder flamingo statue to defend protesters facing federal charges for protest
November 12, 2025 at 7:12 PM
meredithshiner.com
Just got this memory from 11 (!) years ago: fun fact about me is that I noticed this banner I loved had disappeared from the rafters at a GW “buff and blue scrimmage” and leveraged old twitter to become friends with the AD at the future Mr.’s alma mater to secure it a new home not the dumpster
Josh posing with the old Red Auerbach banner from the smith center featuring a cartoon version of Red holding a stogey with the message “GW SALUTES Red Auerbach.”
November 11, 2025 at 1:22 AM
meredithshiner.com
Byron Dorgan’s farmer’s tan is iconic tbqh
Members of Congress in the House gym after a scrimmage with Magic Johnson in 1988
November 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM
meredithshiner.com
do you have a normal desk or did you spend a decade of your life in a newsroom
“Reporter” desk with chaotic weird kitsch
November 10, 2025 at 2:52 PM
meredithshiner.com
Chicago—do we know of any direct organizing for holiday gifts this year? I have an extremely gently used Teamson modular play kitchen (it retails #inthesetarifftimes for $370) and I would love to find a great way to directly donate it to a toddler who would love it.
From the website: "With its contemporary style appliances and trendy farmhouse sink and faucet, this gray with gold accents play kitchen will keep kids entertained. Includes an interactive ice maker and knobs that turn and click for a realistic experience."
November 9, 2025 at 8:51 PM
meredithshiner.com
Taps the sign: Chuck Schumer does not understand the concept of leverage or what to do with it (from me about a month ago). newrepublic.com/article/2014...
Worse than how these legislative impasses have become commonplace in the rhythms and cadence of D.C., though, is how Democrats do not seem to know how to use them to build political capital, leverage, and public consensus. Yes, Republicans control the White House, the U.S. Senate, and the House of Representatives. They undoubtedly own this shutdown, despite their cartoonish protestations on every government website, which skirt federal law. These missives are giving "clunky dictatorship" vibes-only underscoring how unworthy our would-be oppressors truly are. But Democrats control their own behaviors, words, and actions. They have been living with these mendacious Republicans and this dysfunctional media since the Tea Party takeover of 2010. Every time Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York-the Democrat with the most power in a shutdown because his withholding of seven senators toward a procedural vote keeps Republicans from proceeding-says that Democrats are looking to open the government through a negotiation around and deal on Affordable Care Act subsidies, he is acquiescing to the idea that a government in which Border Patrol agents paid with our tax dollars can shoot real bullets at protesters in Chicago after screaming "Do something, bitch!" can and should be deemed legitimate. The truth is that Democrats can pay a million consultants to come up with a million different talking points on health care subsidies. They can keep holding press conferences in the Senate studio like every other press conference before it, talking to the same reporters, pretending like we live in a redeemable timeline where if they just keep on acting like it's 2007, we might fall through a time portal that makes it so. But we live here in a country with a co-opted executive branch led by racist, xenophobic idiots who do not believe in law, empowered by a slavishly devoted Supreme Court that has decided shoveling unlimited power to said executive is more important than the law it disregards, and where the president thinks he can send national guardsmen from red states to blue states just because people of color live here and Fox News hosts hate that. Who is served by pretending we live in an America different from this one? It's certainly not the people being attacked in the streets in Chicago's Logan Square, Humboldt Park, South Shore, Brighton Park, and Little Village, among many other diverse neighborhoods.
November 9, 2025 at 7:12 PM
meredithshiner.com
Update!!
Completed Nike basketball Lego set with spinning basketball
November 8, 2025 at 11:31 PM
meredithshiner.com
I got the kid Nike Legos for his birthday (his two favorite brands) and we are making progress this weekend!!
A special edition Nike basketball Lego set with a blue Nike Lego Jordan basketball shoe on a stand with alternating light and dark blue letters that spell DUNK
November 8, 2025 at 8:25 PM
meredithshiner.com
reminder David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel both went on the record to Politico to say they were fine with this, either knowing the result would be mass death of children or being too dumb to know. Decide for yourself what’s worse!
When I asked veteran strategist David Axelrod whether Democrats were "walking into a trap" on defending foreign aid, he literally finished my sentence. "My heart is with the people out on the street outside USAID, but my head tells me: 'Man, Trump will be well satisfied to have this fight," he said. "When you talk about cuts, the first thing people say is: Cut foreign aid." Rahm Emanuel - the former House leader, Chicago mayor and diplomat - told me much the same: "You don't fight every fight. You don't swing at every pitch. And my view is — while I care about the USAID as a former ambassador - that's not the hill I'm going to die on," he said.
November 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
meredithshiner.com
stopped by a bookstore and got to put an actual print edition of a magazine in my hand, which honestly was pretty dope!
Photo of the page containing the masthead of the new republic: The New Republic Chairman and Editor in Chief Win McCormack Editor Michaol Tomasky Magazine Editorial Director Literary Editor Managing Editor Senior Editor Design Director Photo Director Production Manager Poetry Editor Contributing Copy Editor newrepublic.com Digital Director Executive Editor Deputy Editors Art Unrector Staff Writers Associate Wniters Copy Editor Lead Developer Product Manager Reporter-Researchers Contributing Editors Emily Cooke Laura Marsh Lorraine Cademartori Alex Shephard Andy Omel Stephanie Heimann Joan Yang Rowan Ricardo Phillips Howery Pack Mindy Kay Bricker Ryan Kearney Heather Souvaine Horn Jason Linkins Tori Otten Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani Robert A. Di leso Jr. Kate Aronoff Perry Bacon Matt Ford Melissa Gira Grant Timothy Noah Nothie? Greg Sargent Grace Segers Malcolm Ferguson Ellie Quinian Houghtaling Edith Olmsted Kirsten Denker Tom Fletcher Carla Nudel Kate Mabus Indigo Olivier Sam Russok Rachel Kahn Molly Wright Rumaan Alam Nina Burleigh Alexander Chee Ana Mario Cox Siddhartha Deb Felipe De La Hoz Jan Dutkiewicz Liza Featherstone Ted Genoways Virginia Hotternan Patrick Iber Kathryn Joyce Simon Lazarus Harry Litman Phillip Maciak Pablo Manriquez Susan Milligan Osita Nwanovu Aaron Regunberg Susan Rinkunas Melody Schreiber Meredith Shiner Jacob Silverman Jordan Michael Smith Interim Publisher Chief Financial Officer Sales Director Marketing Director Director of Engagement Engagement Associate Sales and Marketing Manager Bryan Groves David Myer Anthony Bolinsky Kym Blanchard Dan Pritchett Matthew Liner Michelle Tennant-Timmons SCREENGRAS FROM FACE BOO% Lake Avenue Publishing 1 Union Square West New York, NY 10003 For subscription inquiries or problems, call (800) 827-1289 It’s me!!
November 7, 2025 at 3:59 AM
meredithshiner.com
who needs a mental acuity test when this is such a hilarious fail
Lori Lightfoot and her long luxurious hair that she spent so much money on
November 6, 2025 at 3:48 PM
meredithshiner.com
Consider listening to more than an hour of this “for the full effect.”
Did Women Ruin the Workplace? And can conservative feminism fix it? Interesting Times with Ross Douthat 61:47 Below is an edited transcript of an episode of "Interesting Times." We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on the NYTimes app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
November 6, 2025 at 1:41 PM
meredithshiner.com
I have an everlasting take for this. newrepublic.com/article/1865...
Which brings me to my final, and perhaps most important, point: One of the reasons CNN was so set on baselessly attacking Tlaib in this fashion was because she criticized Nessel the same week former president and current Republican nominee Donald Trump preemptively blamed “the Jews” for his potential loss in November. Trump said “a lot of bad things will happen” if the Jews, held by Democrats in a “curse” to oppose him, succeed in getting Vice President Kamala Harris elected. That special segment from Bash? By design, it treated Whitmer and Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who refused to denounce Trump’s comments, as equal. In our current media landscape, threats to civility must be presented as a dysfunction equally held by both major American political parties if they’re to be discussed on broadcast news at all. This is dangerous and dissonant, especially given what happened in the 2020 election. We know the result of Trump’s preelection threats and theories in 2020: an actual attack on the United States Capitol by those convinced by Trump that they could just “hang Mike Pence” so Trump could take back the White House. What might happen in January 2025 with these overt threats to Jews in 2024? Why are we downplaying this, and who is served by it? Why are we pretending that Tlaib’s generalized complaint about the right to dissent is the same thing as Trump’s constant incitements to political violence? The effort expended on bothsidesing us into meaninglessness inoculates those in power from criticism and simultaneously emboldens a reckless wannabe dictator.
November 4, 2025 at 2:58 PM