Garance Franke-Ruta Profile picture
NYC-based writer, digital media strategist and editor. Previously at: @GENmag at @Medium @YahooNews @TheAtlantic @Washingtonpost.
Democracy’N’Peace Profile picture 2 subscribed
Feb 16, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
Another one! newschannel5.com/news/newschann… Claimed to be an economist, but: "Western Kentucky says when he was there from fall of 1990 to fall of 1993, Ogles actually majored in English and Allied Language Arts."
Oct 30, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
Politics and media made Twitter and politics and media can unmake Twitter. I was in DC during the years all the tech companies sent their staffs around to sign us all up, to train us, to teach us what we could use the networks for. We all know Twitter drives buzz, not reads. Staying on Twitter is a collective action question; we stay on because everyone is on it. But if being active on Twitter becomes a brand drag, political & media figures will pull out. And that will lessen the lure of the site to corporate brands, which use it to speak to media.
Sep 22, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
"the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) defines the fluttering of cells in the embryonic heart tube as 'cardiac activity' rather than a heartbeat" babycenter.com/pregnancy/your… "the medical-sounding term 'fetal heartbeat' is being used in this law — and others like it — in a misleading way, say physicians who specialize in reproductive health" npr.org/sections/healt… Image
Aug 26, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
"The ability of Ms. Yashchyshyn—the daughter of an Illinois truck driver—to bypass the security at Mr. Trump’s club demonstrates the ease w which someone w a fake identity + shadowy background can get into a facility that’s one of America’s power centers" newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/anna-de-rothsc… Apparently it's socialites with fake identities day.
Aug 24, 2022 7 tweets 2 min read
This is GREAT news for Pell Grant recipients, who especially could use help. I was one back in the day and paid off $23K in loans—$42K in today's dollars—w/in 6 years by buying, renovating + selling my 1st apartment—impossible to do w similar income + todays' real estate prices. And those loans were just for the second half of undergrad: First 2 years I did at a public college where I met income threshold for full tuition payment & I did not realize I could take out loans so just worked year-round.
May 14, 2022 12 tweets 3 min read
"More Americans have died of Covid-19 than in two decades of car crashes or on battlefields in all of the country’s wars combined." nytimes.com/interactive/20… "A significant proportion of the nation’s oldest residents died, making up about three-quarters of the total deaths. And among younger adults across the nation, Black and Hispanic people died at much higher rates than white people."
May 12, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
"My body/My choice/My right to decide" is the longstanding chant dating back to the '80s. As is the conversation about reproductive rights. "Choice" was the space carved out for those who support women's bodily autonomy but feel weird about/have religious objections to abortion. Also the newspaper way of talking about the sides has long been not "pro-choice"/"pro-life" but "support abortion rights"/"oppose abortion rights."
May 5, 2022 5 tweets 2 min read
A law like this is a law to ban several common form of birth control, which work by preventing the implantation of fertilized eggs. It's extremely explicit in expanding the definition of "abortion" to include IUDs and other post-fertilization birth control. Words crossed out are "deletions from existing law." If Roe is struck down, these birth control methods will also be in states that follow this course.
Oct 31, 2021 11 tweets 5 min read
Heritage Foundation VP lays out how mainstream conservatives plan to use CRT scare: to argue against efforts on behalf of "diversity," "equity," and "inclusion." Which is to say, the entire world of DEI experts & efforts, which have touched most in America, whereas CRT has not. Image The national GOP is running anti-CRT playbook against @TerryMcAuliffe in Virginia as well. What liberals mean by CRT and what conservatives mean by it are not the same; conservatives are organizing under anti-CRT banner but at times just pointing to anti-racism & DEI efforts. Image
Oct 25, 2021 17 tweets 5 min read
This #LongCovid story written by a doctor is a weird mix of good scene reporting and astonishingly lazy scientific reporting, as if he were so confident in his medical authority he didn't fact check himself against the Covid medical literature. A thread: newyorker.com/magazine/2021/… (I know it came out in Sept. but I didn't see it until today when @dianaberrent flagged it because of her impending response to author @DhruvKhullar.)
May 1, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
"A self-described 'numbers guy,' Yang left the group’s budget depleted, tax filings show. In 2017, when he left to run for president, the nonprofit spent $2.6 million more than it raised, ending the year w only about a month’s worth of cash in reserves." nytimes.com/2021/05/01/nyr… "Mr. Yang also failed to recruit many participants of color, even creating a points system for applicants that ended up hurting graduates of historically Black colleges, records show."
Apr 19, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
I did some vaccine outreach w a local mutual aid group this weekend and based on the conversations I had I don't think we're going to see a big increase in vaccine uptake in low-vaccination neighborhoods until there are visible, daily walk-up vax centers embedded in neighborhoods Also there needs to be much more emphasis on how the vaccines are FREE. "How much does it cost?" is a question people are still asking, bc in our healthcare system it is so unusual for anything to be free.
Jan 13, 2021 6 tweets 2 min read
Remember when the Arizona GOP asked if people were willing to die for Trump? (Dec. 12) chicagotribune.com/nation-world/c… Remember when a Proud Boys leader went to the White House thanks to, he said, a "last-minute invite" & then the WH denied it had invited him? (Dec. 12) reuters.com/article/us-usa…
Jan 13, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
Lauren Boehbert has a history of getting into spats with police coloradonewsline.com/2020/08/13/rep… See also this for her larger history of arrests coloradotimesrecorder.com/2020/10/i-even…
Jan 9, 2021 14 tweets 4 min read
The investigation into what happened at the Capitol will need to include deep financial forensics to determine the extent to which it was an Astroturf Rebellion abcnews.go.com/US/trump-allie… "In the days before a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building...President Trump's political apparatus worked behind the scenes with pro-Trump groups to plan and promote events in Washington, D.C., that ultimately led to Wednesday's attack on Congress."
Sep 4, 2020 6 tweets 2 min read
Trump trying to deny what @JeffreyGoldberg reported after making more than 20,000 false & misleading claims since becoming president and calling McCain a "loser" on the record is not credible. After four years, we know who Trump is. I will say as well: My dad is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. It is hallowed ground, a vast city of the dead who fought to preserve this nation in wars dating back more than 100 years, as well as of the men who commanded them.
Mar 14, 2020 18 tweets 6 min read
Kudos to all the cultural outlets who are streaming performances and screenings for #FlattenTheCurve shut-ins. I'm going to start aggregating the ones I see below, starting w this from the Met. operawire.com/metropolitan-o… For those w kids, Frozen 2 is coming to streaming on Sunday, 3 months ahead of schedule variety.com/2020/film/news…
Oct 10, 2019 7 tweets 3 min read
Reup this must read from July: buzzfeednews.com/article/mikesa… From the above BuzzFeed News story from JULY: Lev Parnas goes to Capitol Hill
Apr 13, 2019 29 tweets 9 min read
Maybe someone should hold a hearing into all the different ways Trump has asked people who work for him or the government to break laws. Here are some reported examples:

1. "Ms. Nielsen had earlier refused to carry through with Mr. Trump’s desire to close the border, telling him it was illegal."
Feb 22, 2019 7 tweets 3 min read
"On the evening of Dec. 2nd, 2010, a handful of America's media and entertainment elite—including TV anchors Katie Couric and George Stephanopoulos, comedienne Chelsea Handler, and director Woody Allen—convened around the dinner table of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein" "It seemed Epstein had joined the ranks of former Pres. Clinton, director Roman Polanski, and former NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer, whose sex scandals faded...The conventional wisdom among his friends was that Epstein has been victimized by greedy, morally dubious teenage girls..."
Sep 12, 2018 7 tweets 2 min read
THREAD: Every so often I volunteer with a bipartisan group that trains young women to run for office. The last time I did this there was one woman who asked how you run for office when there is something you don't want to talk about. I gave some general insight into how candidates often try to create a zone of privacy while becoming public figures. She didn't get more specific & I didn't ask.