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Vivian McCall

@vivmccall.bsky.social

1K followers 410 following 390 posts

News Editor at The Stranger Trans journalist 🏳️‍⚧️ Music as Pansy (https://pansysucks.bandcamp.com/track/mercy-kill-me-2)

pansysucks.bandcamp.com

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 13d

I mostly talk journalism/serious shit here, but I am really stoked to share that my band was included in @pastemagazine.bsky.social's Best New Songs this week. Thanks to @yogurttowne.bsky.social for the overwhelmingly kind words. I'm ecstatic!!

www.pastemagazine.com/music/best-n...

Best New Songs of the Week (September 25, 2025) | Paste Magazine

Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.

www.pastemagazine.com

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Reposted by Vivian McCall

Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 1d

If you think today's news media picture is grim, take stock of how Chicago's local journalists are getting at the truth despite Homeland Security's campaign of lies and intimidation.
My Stop the Presses newsletter.

The press steps up as Trump targets Chicago

Local journalism is under siege, but still makes itself indispensable

www.stopthepresses.news

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Reposted by Vivian McCall

Leor Galil @imleor.bsky.social · 5d

I lived a short walk from here for seven of the ten years I lived in Logan

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 5d

Logan Square neighborhood, Chicago. Man wearing a balaclava in a white, unmarked vehicle, pulls the pin on a tear gas canister and tosses it in the road.

"Just trying to grab some lunch and these fucking losers showed up. FUCK ICE!"
source: www.reddit.com/r/LoganSquar...

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Reposted by Vivian McCall

Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 7d

I did not expect this kind of fire from Eliot Cohen, but he has Hegseth absolutely pegged www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

There is a certain kind of Army officer who, after the excitement of company command, finds his career stalled, and who perhaps leaves the service as a major in the National Guard filled with bitterness and resentment. He may then dream of one day being in a position to make all the superior officers who failed to appreciate his leadership qualities, his insight, his sheer fitness stand to attention and hear him lay down the law about what it is to be an officer, and threaten to fire those who do not meet his standards. In this respect, and this respect only, on that stage Pete Hegseth was living the dream.

In all other respects, however, he was ridiculous...

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 8d

What kind of headline is this??

Journalists cannot ethically cover the administration's abnormal actions as "normal" just because they're writing a story about the US Government doing Official US Government Things.

This headline is fit for a routine speech. It was not a routine speech at all.

Axios @axios.com · 8d

Trump and Hegseth outlined their idea for a cultural and operational military reset. Here's their vision.

Trump and Hegseth's plan for a MAGA military reset, told in 11 quotes

Trump and Hegseth laid out their vision for the U.S. military at Quantico.

www.axios.com

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 8d

This administration is constantly doing things it doesn't need to do, not doing things it definitely should do, and risking a lot of needless, meaningless suffering as a result.

Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 8d

This from an administration that is very, very aggressive to people living on the street and opposed to evidence-based housing practices.

Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 8d

If the Trump administration has its way, nearly *four million* people—half of them children—will be at imminent risk of eviction and homelessness.

Let that sink in.

Millions Could Lose Housing Aid Under Trump Plan

Drafts of unpublished rules obtained by ProPublica detail plans that would open the door to full-time work requirements, two-year limits on living in federally supported housing and stripping aid from...

www.propublica.org

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 8d

Can't wait for the stern rebuke from Democrats this afternoon.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Trump: "The ones that are run by radical left Democrats -- what they've done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They're very unsafe places & we're gonna straighten them out one by one. This is gonna be a major part for some people in this room. That's a war too. It's war from within"

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 8d

Who knew bleach could be so versatile!!

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Reposted by Vivian McCall

Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 9d

Hey, photography friends, this could be a good place to throw a few bucks to a fellow photographer.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 10d

@yourstorymatters.bsky.social has been doing phenomenal work OTG in Chicago (mostly over on Instagram), documenting assaults on the press and protesters. Last night a needed lens disappeared in the chaos.

If you picked up this Sigma, get in touch!

account.venmo.com/u/jon_stegenga

Unfortunately, within the craziness of everything that was yesterday at the Broadview ICE facility my telephoto lens was taken. I don't know when or how

Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG

DN OS Sports Lens for Sony E

If somehow someone found it yesterday let me know. I don't have the funds to replace it.

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Reposted by Vivian McCall

Violet Miller @vimiller.bsky.social · 9d

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 12d

ICE advanced again, started firing at photographers/press intentionally. Took a nasty lick to the face, unsure if pepper ball or rubber bullet.

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 11d

some of my most serious journalism to date
www.thestranger.com/news/2025/09...

How to Enjoy the Park When the City Closes the Park

There's only a few nice days left, they shouldn't go to waste.

www.thestranger.com

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 12d

Just so everyone is aware, this 50 percent number is an absolute lie.

If it were true, we'd know that. There's no way we wouldn't know that. It's not even the kind of information that could be revealed because we've been here the whole time seeing it not be true.

But it will be believed.

Andrew Couts @couts.bsky.social · 12d

NEW: The Heritage Foundation is pushing a terrorism designation based on "transgender ideology" on the claim that "50% of major (non-gang) school shootings since 2015" involve a transgender shooter or trans-related motive. @dell.bsky.social and me on why that's false:

www.wired.com/story/herita...

Heritage Foundation Uses Bogus Stat to Push a Trans Terrorism Classification

By inflating numbers and narrowing definitions, Heritage promotes a false link between transgender identity and violence in its push for the FBI to create a new terrorism category.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by Vivian McCall

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 13d

"the menswear guy isn't fair and balanced." do you even hear yourself?

"fork lady is eroding public confidence."

"ladder baby is undermining the credibility of the field."

"lemon raccoon is acting without transparency or accountability."

that's what you sound like.

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 13d

Here's a link to the single! More coming so, so soon! link.earthlibraries.com/mercykillme

Pansy

link.earthlibraries.com

Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 13d

Best New Songs of the Week (September 25, 2025) | Paste Magazine

Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.

www.pastemagazine.com

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 13d

no!!

Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 13d

too stressful

Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 13d

I am so tired of dating shows. Entertainment should be based on obstacle courses.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hqY...

Japanese Scooter game show

YouTube video by jchillerup

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Vivian McCall

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 14d

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

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Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein.bsky.social · 14d

U.S. intelligence has removed "T" from "LGBT" in their reports - including those intended to warn of threats to the community.
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/feds-disap...

Feds Disappear Trans People from “LGBT”

Intel reports on threats to Pride events reveal campaign to stamp out the word “transgender”

www.kenklippenstein.com

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 15d

I reported on that assault (and the charges) and hadn't heard that detail about a large number of trans women/ transfems at the bar on those nights! Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind for future reporting.

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Reposted by Vivian McCall

Nathalie Graham @gramsofgnats.bsky.social · 15d

Horrifying, insane scoop from @vivmccall.bsky.social .
Five beatings of trans women have occurred in Seattle so far this year. The suspects have all been men. In at least one case, random men—strangers—have joined in on the attacks. Depraved shit.
www.thestranger.com/news/2025/09...

Seattle Area Trans Women Are Being Attacked by Groups of Men

Warning: This story contains descriptions of violence. “Go to Pony, go to Pony, go to Pony—there’s more people there,” said a frantic woman as she approached Madison Carstens and her friends next to t...

www.thestranger.com

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 15d

If you live in Seattle and are doing something like this, please reach out. I'd like to talk to you about it.

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 15d

This is very dark stuff, but the primary subject of this story, Madison Carstens, told me she's been thinking about how the queer community organized to protect itself from queer bashing in the 1980s and 1990s, during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the United States.

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Vivian McCall @vivmccall.bsky.social · 15d

I found this detail to be completely astounding.

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