Steve Berkowitz

Emma Stone’s ‘Bugonia’ Holds Screening in L.A. Where Audiences Must Shave Their Heads to Attend Have hair? No entry.

Have hair? No entry.

University of Virginia Won’t Join White House’s Compact for Colleges It was the fifth school in a matter of days to refuse an offer of preferential funding treatment from the government, even as the White House has threatened schools that do not sign up.

The University of Virginia became the fifth school to rebuff a White House proposal to give universities preferential treatment if they uphold a set of government demands.

FYI of a new scam I keep getting lately:

Someone tries to log in to your Dropbox, fails & requests a link, so you get a password reset email from legit Dropbox.

Immediately followed by a real looking follow-up from someone allegedly with Dropbox support but a @dropbox.zendesk email.

Don't click 👍

Trump Boat Bombings Take Darker Turn as Top Official Suddenly Resigns As the head of the military’s Southern Command steps down, Adam Smith, the top Armed Services Committee Democrat, sheds new light on the departure—and on Trump’s appalling secrecy about the bombings.

News on Trump boat bombings --> Now that SouthCom Commander Alvin Holsey has resigned, likely over the bombings, ranking Armed Services Dem Adam Smith tells me committee Ds will demand Holsey's sworn testimony and press Rs to join them.

Smith spoke to us on the pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2019...

a man is crying in front of a window with the words " please remember that these are fictional characters " above him ALT: a man is crying in front of a window with the words " please remember that these are fictional characters " above him

🙄

‘Godfather of Silicon Valley’ Quits Board Over Benioff’s Backing of Trump

Kudos to Ron Conway. “I am shocked and disappointed by your comments calling for an unwanted invasion of San Francisco by federal troops and by your willful ignorance and detachment from the impacts of the ICE immigration raids of families with NO criminal record.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...

NEW:

A dramatic voiceover video the White House and Donald Trump shared last week claiming to show "chaos" in Chicago is littered with outdated footage from Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Nebraska, California and Arizona, an AFP investigation found.

factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

Penn rejects Trump compact offered to colleges Brown and MIT have also rejected the proposal, which would have given the White House influence over the universities' operations in exchange for preferential consideration in federal funding.

www.inquirer.com/education/pe...

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

Extraordinary NEW story: We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. @nicolefoy.bsky.social w/ photos by @sbmaneyphoto.bsky.social

Appeals Court Maintains Block on Trump’s Troop Deployment to Illinois “Political opposition is not rebellion,” wrote a Seventh Circuit panel, rejecting an attempt by the Trump administration to remove an order by a trial court judge.

A federal appeals panel on Thursday agreed with a lower court judge who had blocked the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to the Chicago area.

Trinidad citizens believed killed in US airstrike off Venezuela coast identified Rishi Samaroo and Chad ‘Charpo’ Joseph believed to have been on boat Trump alleged was carrying drugs to US

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

www.propublica.org/article/immi...

These are US citizens! And it will only get worse 🤬

Judge hauling ICE official into court as aggressive tactics continue despite her order: 'I'm not blind' U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wants the ICE official to explain "why I am seeing images of tear gas … and reading reports that there were no warnings given." A Trump lawyer says the reports are inacc...

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Federal immigration officers in Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras, judge says A judge says federal immigration officers in the Chicago area will be required to wear body cameras after the use of tear gas and other aggressive steps against protesters.

apnews.com/article/chic...

2/ Anyone who pays bail after being arrested for a criminal charge is being taken. People showing up to court are being taken. People with cases about to go to trial are being taken. People who violate their probation are being taken. ICE's respect for state cops and prosecutors remains nonexistent

1/ Good morning from Chelsea District Court, which has jurisdiction over more non-citizens per capita than any other MA court. Just thought you should know that ICE has left the prosecution unable to proceed against dozens of cases scheduled for this morning, including the one I am appearing on

‘South Park’ Takes On Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession As Trump Tries To Get Satan An Abortion 'South Park' returned from another two-week break on Wednesday with some fresh jabs at Donald Trump and Peter Thiel.

'South Park' returned from another two-week break on Wednesday with some fresh jabs at Donald Trump and Peter Thiel.

Mike Johnson Says ICE Shooting a Priest Doesn’t Cross the Line The House speaker has yet to see any issue with ICE’s behavior in Chicago.

There is NO line.

newrepublic.com/post/201757/...

Feds ram SUV after chase down residential street in Chicago, then tear-gas crowd The crash happened late Tuesday morning near 105th Street and Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood. Two men being pursued were arrested as were two bystanders. The crash drew dozens of neighbors who...

"The boy, who is Hispanic and African American, was held in a garage for five hours “without informing his family, stating any charges, or allowing him to call an attorney,” the statement said. He is a U.S. citizen, as is his entire immediate family, the release said."

Covid Vaccines in First Trimester Not Tied to Birth Defects, Study Finds The results of a large study in France are consistent with previous research indicating that Covid vaccination is safe and effective in pregnancy.

A study of hundreds of thousands of infants in France did not find any increased risk of birth defects among those whose mothers received a Covid vaccine in the first trimester, building on previous evidence for the vaccines’ safety.

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Now do supplements 😱 😩

YouTube has a new strategy to win over Spotify's audio-first podcasters using AI YouTube is introducing new AI features that could help it convert Spotify's audio-first podcasters into video creators.

www.businessinsider.com/youtube-new-...

Venezuela plays virtually no role in the production or smuggling of fentanyl. The vast majority of illicit fentanyl in the U.S. is produced in Mexico with precursor chemicals from China and enters the U.S. by land. Experts have stated there is no evidence of fentanyl coming from Venezuela.

NBC News’ 150 Layoffs Gut Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams The cuts affected teams across the NBC News operation and came as the network no longer needed to support two different news operations. MSNBC has begun growing its own newsroom, hiring swaths of tale...

www.thewrap.com/nbc-news-lay...

Those black squares were only 5 years ago 🤔

A tangled web of deals stokes AI bubble fears in Silicon Valley Some are worried that the rapid rise in the value of AI tech companies may be a bubble waiting to burst.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela

Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

Imagine if Biden did this 🤦‍♂️

Trump ran on a non-interventionalist campaign... "America First," right?

We're back in the 80s

Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

I remember hearing people say, "Trump's not racist" last year... I mean... WTAF 🤦‍♂️

Live Updates: Supreme Court Appears Poised to Upend Key Provision of Voting Rights Act

Live Updates: Supreme Court Appears Poised to Upend Key Provision of Voting Rights Act www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

SCOTUS is at it again 🤬