Sophie Hurwitz

I regret my decision to watch the White House / Big Tech press conference about their "ratepayer protection pledge."

The highlight was when he went off-script and admitted that this is all about providing "PR help" to Big Tech companies.

these laws are a political project by which the state attempts to assume the power to decide sex and gender, power it does not have—and power it will express “incorrectly” because that’s power, too

‘The digital colonization of flyover states’: how datacenters are tearing small-town America apart The rapid rollout of datacenters across the US is creating a divide between municipal governments and residents

‘The digital colonization of flyover states’: how datacenters are tearing small-town America apart

Hello! I am a trans journalist looking to speak with trans kids and parents of trans kids across the US who have been impacted by the clinic closures---please get in touch or share!

An ADSBx map of Europe showing 13 USM aircraft, mostly C-17 Globemasters, many of which appear to heading toward the Middle East.

An ADSBx map showing the lower-48 with a 13 military aircraft, mostly over the East Coast. Two appear to be C-17s heading toward Europe. One appears to be a KC-135 Stratotanker returning from Europe.

There are as many US military aircraft over Europe right now (that we can see!) as over the US.

Iran's Article 51 letter to the Security Council: "the air strikes carried out by the United States and the Israeli regime constitute a clear violation of Art 2(4) of the Charter of the UN and amount to an open armed aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran"

Back after 3 hours of sleep. They are reigning hell on my people

‘They better take away duct tape’: Trans men say they’ll keep binding despite FDA crackdown Chest binders are a common first step to explore gender identity. Restricting them could push people back to unsafe DIY methods.

This story was fun to write bc it’s mostly older trans guys being like “we used to bind uphill both ways in the snow”

But in all seriousness, binding used to be the wild west. Duct tape, electrical tape, ACE bandages. Now we have good products. But the FDA is cracking down on those. Read more:

The top cops working to shield Big Oil from the law Oil-funded attorneys general are making progress in their attempts to quash climate lawsuits.

Two big attacks on climate accountability lawsuits made the news last week -- and both were pushed by the Republican Attorneys General Association.

Connecting the dots to some of RAGA's biggest funders: the same major oil industry players facing those lawsuits.

www.exxonknews.org/p/the-top-co...

I stared at that phrase for a very long time today before checking the Polymarket odds on how many measles cases there will be in the US by the end of February

The End of Books Coverage at the Washington Post Becca Rothfeld, a former critic at the Washington Post, on the death of the paper’s books section.

“Publics are made and maintained, not discovered preformed, like rock formations. It is a sign of a fatally limited imagination to assume that we can only ever desire the pittance to which we are currently reconciled.”

ily Becca Rothfeld

DHS axed its civil rights staff—and opened the door to a major lawsuit The agency is now barely pretending to follow disability law. Its former civil rights head says that makes ICE vulnerable.

A recent Congressional letter accuses DHS of not being compliant with a major civil rights law due to the mistreatment of disabled ICE detainees. As I reported for @motherjones.com, this is worsened by the fact DHS' office for civil rights has TWO EMPLOYEES now.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

the university of michigan is pushing to build a $1B facility in collab w/los alamos national laboratory. it's basically a huge datacenter. under the current neoliberal framework of every higher ed investment needing to "pay off", how does that project cash out for the university? because it has to.

Rent Board Resignation Clears Path for Mamdani Rent Freeze Promise The new mayor is now able to appoint a majority to the Rent Guidelines Board, giving him the numbers for a signature campaign promise.

NEW: @aarmlovi.bsky.social resigned from the Rent Guidelines Board today.

This gives @mayor.nyc.gov a total of six seats to play with on the nine-member board. His appointments could deliver his promise of a rent freeze for a million rent-stabilized apartments.

www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/17/r...

Funding surgery and hormones for trans people can save Medicare millions: new research Until now, we haven’t had research that tracks how accessing hormones or surgeries affects how much trans people use mental health services and medications.

@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Feb 16 Conversation:
New study finds that funding surgery and hormones cuts down dramatically on mental health needs for trans kids and adult and would easily save national health services like Medicare tens of millions annually.

On Nov. 16, a mental health counselor recorded in Kamilla’s medical records that her mother reported the girl had lost her appetite after being “served food that contained worms.” A week later, the couple said, children were told to gather in the gym for what they believed would be a Thanksgiving celebration. Excitement spread as families saw tables set with turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, they said. The children waited expectantly. But when a parent asked when the celebration would begin, Oksana said, staff told them the holiday meal was for employees, not detainees. The children, she said, watched despondently as the feast was packed away.

On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.

The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.

But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.

journalism as a profession should be noble. on balance it is net monstrous

UK ban on Palestine Action unlawful, high court judges rule Protest group’s co-founder wins legal challenge against decision to proscribe it under anti-terrorism laws

Wow!

Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report.

This is a *big* legal win.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

The Coming CBS News Cuts As CBS News staff quietly brace for another round of layoffs, Status has learned key new details about the cuts executives are planning behind the scenes.

News: The Bari Weiss-led CBS News is set to slash its staff by at least 15% in the coming months, according to people briefed on the network's layoff plans.

More details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/cbs-news-l...

Trump repeals EPA’s ability to regulate climate pollution | CNN The Trump Environmental Protection Agency delivered a significant blow to longstanding US climate policy on Thursday, finalizing rules to revoke a 2009 scientific finding that human-caused climate cha...

There's so much other stuff going on that's absolutely horrifying that I worry this won't make much noise. It's absolutely horrifying.

www.cnn.com/2026/02/12/c...

I’m a Minneapolis postal worker. This is what I saw. Come rain, shine, tear gas, or ICE shootings, postal worker Bianca Sonnenberg is delivering the mail.

Bianca Sonnenberg’s uniform has become her security blanket. Before ICE arrived in Minneapolis, she would change when she finished her route.

Recently, she’s hoped her identity as a US Postal Service worker would protect her from getting targeted by ICE operations.

My team at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman.bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) has shared a big data update, covering all recorded US protests through Jan 2026. Some key takeaways 🧵:

Companies reap $22bn from Trump’s immigration crackdown Palantir and Deloitte among beneficiaries of spending by government agencies

Leading American companies — including Palantir, Deloitte, and private prison giant GEO Group — raked in over $22B from ICE and CBP contracts last year.

Do not forget who is profiting from cruelty and human suffering.

https://www.ft.com/content/c74170d3-237d-459c-8642-bfd71530897d

Is Gaza genocide? In #NJ12, all but one hand go. Exact opposite outcome of a similar forum in #NJ11.

Every Democratic candidate in NJ-12 except Sam Wang at a CAIR event say that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza

Dear Ms. Wolfe, Petitioner-Appellee Rümeysa Öztürk submits this Rule 28(j) letter to advise the Court that on January 29, 2026, the immigration court held that the Department of Homeland Security had not met its burden of proving removability, and the immigration court thereby terminated removal proceedings against Ms. Öztürk.' This development underscores the dangers of the government's interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under the government's view, it could punitively detain any noncitizen in retaliation for her speech for many months, so long as it simultaneously institutes removal proceedings—no matter how unmeritorious—all without any federal court review of the lawfulness of detention at any time. To be clear, the termination of Ms. Öztürk's removal proceedings does not moot her habeas case. (By contrast, as Ms. Öztürk has argued, this appeal is moot. Br. 18-20.) Without habeas jurisdiction and the bail order that is currently in place, any government appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals would again subject Ms. Öztürk to re-detention. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.6(a). For that reason, she continues to suffer the threat of continuing "now-or-never" First and Fifth Amendment harms. Br. in Opp. 55-57.

NEW: An immigration court has terminated removal proceedings against Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, finding that DHS did not meet its burden of establishing that she was removable, her lawyers tell the Second Circuit. live-awp-vermont.pantheonsite.io/app/uploads/...

Board of Peace Is a Board of Profits - The American Prospect Corporate interests dominate the organization planning the reconstruction of Gaza.

I am pretty used to corporate self-interest, but even I'm shocked by what Ellen Ioanes dug up about the Board of Peace and its designs in Gaza.
prospect.org/2026/02/09/b...

Commenting on energy injustice is now the floor for any halftime act.

Williamsburg Changes, But Toñita Still Reigns - Hell Gate For 50 years, Maria Antonia "Toñita" Cay has overseen the Caribbean Social Club in Williamsburg. It's now the last Puerto Rican social club in Brooklyn.

Eagle-eyed watchers of Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show would have spied Toñita, the queen of Los Sures, AKA Williamsburg.

Read all about Maria Antonia “Toñita” Cay here: hellgatenyc.com/williamsburg...

The truth about ICE and the New England Patriots jets (Go Seahawks) The best reason to hate the New England Patriots is where their team planes have been.

There are so many reasons to hate the Patriots. But for me, it starts and ends with the ICE collaborators they're enriching.
gillianbrockell.ghost.io/the-truth-ab...

Where's My Package? - Urban Omnibus Amazon’s logistical network is as extensive as it is abstruse. To get a sense of its scale, we reconstruct the regional distribution system, one order at a time.

urbanomnibus.net/2026/02/wher... This is a very cool project reverse engineering Amazon shipping routes!