Raphael Satter

Former site of HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

THIS PLAQUE IS DEDICATED TO HIAS, THE HEBREW IMMIGRANT AID SOCIETY, WHICH OCCUPIED THIS BUILDING FROM 1921 TO 1965. AS THE INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION AGENCY OF THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY, HIAS' WORK, PROVIDING RESCUE AND REFUGE FOR ENDANGERED AND PERSECUTED PEOPLE OF ALL FAITHS AND BACKGROUNDS AROUND THE WORLD, CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. FOUNDED IN 1881, HIAS HAS RESCUED MORE THAN 4,500,000 MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN, INCLUDING MEMBERS OF ALMOST EVERY JEWISH FAMILY IN AMERICA. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF THESE REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS WERE SHELTERED AND FED IN THIS BUILDING BEFORE THEY ENTERED THE MAINSTREAM OF LIFE IN THIS GREAT NATION.

A sign of American greatness, in New York City.

This story is so important: US legal fees are so high that pro bono work provides one of the few ways for the non-wealthy to access justice. Now that’s being choked off as law firms bow to Trump.

I should clarify that the interest should be in fighting transnational repression rather than engaging in it but tbh I’d be interested in chatting either way.

Any NYC-based lawyers with an interest in transnational repression interested in a chat?

This is a great piece not just about Napster but about how a quarter century of lawbreaking help build, for better and for worse, today’s tech industry.

HOW ELECTRICITY WILL HELP OUT THE EDITOR OF THE FUTURE. In the Forum for February Jules Verne contributes a satirical description of a great American editor in the year 2889. The editor rules the world; he receives ministers of other governments and settles international quarrels: he is the patron of all the arts and sciences; he maintains all the great novel-ists; he has not only a telephone line to Paris but a telephote line as well, whereby he can at any time, from his study in New York, see a Parisian with whom he con-verses. Advertisements are flashed on the clouds: reporters describe events orally to millions of subscribers; and if a subscriber becomes weary, or is busy, he attaches his phono-graph to his telephone, and hears the news at his leisure. If a fire is raging in Chicago, subscribers in New York may not only listen to the description of an eyewitness, but by the telephote may see the fire.

From Electrical Review, 1889:

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from @kevincollier.bsky.social

www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

Maybe Kash Patel can find the real job numbers hidden in a burn bag.

Trump fires labor statistics boss hours after weak jobs report The president implied that the BLS commissioner, long-time federal employee Erika McEntarfer, manipulated the data "for political purposes."

BREAKING: President Trump fires the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics hours after weak jobs report.

Timely submission.

NEW FROM @reuters.com: Top U.S. law firms have sharply scaled back their efforts to challenge the federal government in court, especially on behalf of pro bono clients, in the face of threats from President Trump.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Journalist Discovers Google Vulnerability That Allowed People to Disappear Specific Pages From Search Negative articles about a tech CEO vanished from Google after someone made fraudulent requests using the Refresh Outdated Content Tool.

Here's a fun (terrifying) one. A journalist was trying to find a specific article he'd written and couldn't find it on Google. At all. Someone had tricked Google into de-listing it entirely.

Russia’s summer offensive is turning into an escalating crisis for Ukraine | CNN The silent, moonless black is broken only by the whirr above of a Russian drone.

Over four days, CNN witnessed a swift change in control of territory as Russian drones were able to penetrate deep into once-calm Ukrainian areas.

More than 90 state, local governments targeted using Microsoft SharePoint vulnerability, group says More than 90 state and local governments have been targeted using the recently revealed vulnerability in Microsoft server software, according to a U.S. group devoted to helping local authorities collaborate against hacking threats.

New: More than 90 U.S. state and local governments have been targeted by hackers leveraging Microsoft’s recently disclosed SharePoint vulnerability, the group behind the MS-ISAC tells me.

They say no “confirmed security incidents” yet.
www.reuters.com/technology/m...

In this blog post, we introduce UNC3524, a newly discovered suspected espionage threat actor that, to date, heavily targets the emails of employees that focus on corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, and large corporate transactions. On the surface, their targeting of individuals involved in corporate transactions suggests a financial motivation; however, their ability to remain undetected for an order of magnitude longer than the average dwell time of 21 days in 2021, as reported in M-Trends 2022, suggests an espionage mandate.

I suspected, upon reading the report, that this was a financially motivated threat actor (as did the researchers, apparently). I'd be curious for theories about why the SVR might want to track M&A activity.

UNC3524: Eye Spy on Your Email | Mandiant | Google Cloud Blog

I guess I'd missed this entirely. Mandiant (now Google) attributes UNC3524, a group apparently focused on mergers and acquisitions, to APT29. Interesting.

cloud.google.com/blog/topics/...

In case you're wondering how the company is doing, NSO Group's new 7500 sq ft "Modern Renaissance Harmony"-style HQ looks pretty swanky

Fleeing One Step Ahead of Fascism The chilling warnings of Europe in the 1930s: "Reality is stronger than all our wishes"

“Democracy tolerated Hitler and helped him take office to destroy democracy. This peaceful death of German democracy is one of the strangest chapters in history. German democracy marched to its grave with eyes wide open, and singing, ‘Beware of Adolf Hitler.’” www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/fleeing-on...

In this case it’s the Ukrainians — inadvertently — coaching the sicarios.

This piece by Grégory Priolon is really exhaustively reported. The gist is that $400 grenade dropping drones are coming to a theatre of conflict near you.

Mexico/Ukraine : Ukraine counterintelligence investigates presence of sicarios on front line Ukraine's domestic intelligence suspects Spanish-speaking volunteers of infiltrating the International Legion to train in flying FPV drones. Some are reportedly linked to cartels and have been

Intriguing: Intelligence Online says Mexican cartels & FARC guerillas are infiltrating Ukraine's foreign legion to learn how to use killer drones.
www.intelligenceonline.com/government-i...

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How to get laughed at by a desk editor: *explode* the lede 💥

NYC Mass Shooting Was Nearly Impossible to Prevent, Experts Say

Holy shit, they did it. They wrote the headline.

Text of the docket from AlHathloul v. Dark Matter indicating that the court has denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the CFAA claims in the case.

NEWS: Loujain AlHathloul's spyware lawsuit against Dark Matter survives a motion to dismiss, and the CFAA claims will proceed in US courts. That is a huge win! Order is temporarily sealed -- we will publish more when it is unsealed. For background: www.eff.org/cases/alhath...

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Russia's Aeroflot suffers IT failure, hackers claim responsibility Russian airline Aeroflot cancelled dozens of flights on Monday after what it called a failure in its information systems, and a shadowy hacking group claimed responsibility for what it said was a crippling cyberattack.

„A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation together with a Belarusian group called Cyberpartisans BY, and linked it to the war in Ukraine.“

www.reuters.com/en/russias-a...

Under Siege From Trump and Musk, a Top Liberal Group Falls Into Crisis

Between Musk & the Trump administration, Media Matters has been squeezed to the brink. In settlement discussions, lawyers for X demanded the organization hand over all its cash and shut down — all because MM reported ads appeared on X next to antisemitic content. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/u...

Vermont school superintendent detained after trip to Nicaragua Wilmer Chavarria, the superintendent of the Winooski School District, was held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection while returning to the country after visiting family.

“You feel like you’ve been abducted by a gang of aggressive, violent people who are trying to manipulate you and who are lying to you. And while you are being abducted, you know that these people are capable of doing anything to you because they don’t care.”

“How much do you want to forget this whole conversation?”

Just read the whole thing it’s a classic.