John Lam

ICE Is Grabbing Data From Schools and Abortion Clinics An agency database WIRED obtained reveals widespread use of so-called 1509 summonses that experts say raises the specter of potential abuse.

Admin subpoenas are back in the spotlight. Worth remembering ICEs use of a similar tool: hundreds of thousands of warrantless “customs summonses,” often for non-customs cases sent for info about journalists, students, and abortion clinics, with no oversight.

wired.com/story/ice-1509-custom-summons/

Heh, “wild guess” could vary by a factor of 4 or more depending which city presumably in the US.

Top Trump official says FBI won't investigate killing by ICE agent DOJ targets now include victim Renée Good's widow, Gov. Walz, and Mayor Frey—but not shooter Jonathan Ross.

DOJ targets now include victim Renée Good’s widow, Gov. Walz, and Mayor Frey...but not shooter Jonathan Ross.

This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Yes, immigration agents not only took Arnoldo's phone, the 10th grader had to use Find My Phone to locate it — in a vending machine for used electronics, close to an ICE detention center.

Read the full story here:
www.propublica.org/article/vide...

Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

The most important graph you'll see today. As large blue-state metros choked off growth with zoning, red-state metros kept building cheap suburban housing.

But now, that's changed, as homeowners in those states have mastered the art of blocking development, too.

The result? Prices are spiking.

ExplainXKCD is the shit!

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) ⭐ 8.3 | Comedy, War 1h 35m | PG

No mention of Curtis LeMay can go without reference to aspects of him parodied both as Gen Jack Ripper and Gen Buck Turgidson in the movie Dr Strangelove.

imdb.com/title/tt0057...

Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs CHAIRMAN Rand Paul Read Biography Majority News Jun 13 Chairman Rand Paul Releases HSGAC Budget Reconciliation Text ➞ May 20 Chairman Paul Delivers Opening Remarks at Hearing on the Department of Home...

Right'o, good in principle, but this is congressional oversight.

hsgac.senate.gov

Half Of The 2025 U.S. Nobel Prize Winners In Science Are Immigrants Three of the six U.S. winners in the 2025 Nobel Prize science categories immigrated to the United States, one of them as a teenager.

A remarkable story: Omar Yaghi, born a refugee in Jordan, came to America as a teen to attend community college and later earned a Ph.D. and the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Immigrants have won 40% of the U.S. Nobel Prizes in science since 2000. @mclem.org
www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

A big problem, Jen, @katmabu.bsky.social The US made only a non-binding signature and then withdrew from the Rome Statute founding the International Criminal Court at the Hague, so never became party to the treaty. Justice for Noem, Miller, Vought, Trump must come from… aba-icc.org/about-the-ic...

Action Alert graphic on a dark red background: 🚨 Duffy’s DOT is eliminating millions of dollars in grants that have been awarded to make communities safer. An image of a clipboard labelled "NOW CANCELLED" contains a bulleted list with each line struck through: "Bike lanes, Sidewalks, Trails, Safety crossings" In a red bubble for emphasis: "Bike lanes are “not in the public interest,” says the Department of Transportation." TAKE ACTION: bikeleague.org/action-center

State and local governments applied for these grants based on the needs and wants of their communities – and they were awarded this funding under the Biden Administration. Now, they are losing those investments, in addition to the economic development and safety improvements they would have funded. Please join us in asking Congress to take action." Below the paragraph, an illustrated graphic of a woman biking with a young child in traffic says "I was really looking forward to that new bike lane..." Bikeleague.org/action-center

🚨 ACTION ALERT: Secretary Duffy’s DOT says bike lanes are “not in the public interest” – and is canceling hundreds of millions in grants for biking, walking, and trail projects nationwide. Take action: bikeleague.org/action-center

They didn’t, and instead crammed the railyard into the neighboring 10e Arrondissement, unlike but also like how Seattle left the lands before Interbay until after the railyard claimed the valley.

DOH: WA residents can access COVID-19 vaccine without prescription Washington residents will be able to access the updated COVID-19 vaccines without an individual prescription under a new standing order the state Department of Health issued Thursday. The order follow...

NEW: Washington residents will be able to access the updated COVID-19 vaccines without an individual prescription under a new standing order the state Department of Health issued Thursday. Under the order, most residents will be able to get the updated forms of COVID-19 vaccines.

US Senator Jon Ossoff has launched an investigation into the abuse of women and children in US immigration detention, citing among other reports, the WIRED story below: www.ossoff.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

People’s brains are fried by the 15 stories a year of a cyclist hitting a pedestrian but completely ignore the 40k per year that are killed by cars.

News is news because it’s different from the norm. But the process of reporting tricks our lizard brains into thinking what’s in the news is common.

"Motorized vehicles create remoteness which they alone can shrink. They create distances for all, and shrink them for only a few."
—Ivan Illich

📸 #Brasilia

A trail of blood in the street behind a vehicle transporting dead bodies.

In the last 24 hours, Israel has reportedly killed 123 people in Gaza.

This photo is from today:

Metropolitan Planning Organizations Make Decisions About Transportation Options Nationwide, but They Rarely Represent All Their Constituents. Adopting population-representative voting systems could help metropolitan planning boards better reflect all residents' transportation needs. ,Across the US, hundreds of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) help make transportation planning decisi...

Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) shape US #transportation decisions—but evidence shows their voting structures often don’t reflect local populations.

In a new post, Urban #research experts analyze MPO board membership in the largest metro areas.

"Last year there were ten murders in the NYC subway system, with well over a billion total rides taken. During the same time period, there were 253 traffic fatalities in New York City. One person dead every day and a half. Cars? Those things are fucking dangerous."

You know, Costco tracks everything you buy and return. Wanna be known as the woman who returned a rotisserie chicken, when you need to return a $1600 hearing aid and they cancel your membership? Try taking that to arbitration!

Upcoming t-shirt from Andy Biao's former pre-Yahoo and now defunct Web 2.0 startup

Hah, i have a never-worn, vintage 2004, pre-Yahoo Upcoming t-shirt and stickers (somewhere).

The group "Save our Sammamish" has been pushing back on the idea of allowing additional density in the city's town center area. In response, two teenagers at Skyline high school created a website debunking them.
supersammamish.vercel.app

Ice Block likely isn’t counterespionage, but how can we be sure? Even if it isn’t now, how can we know later the FBI hasn’t infiltrated them, arrested them and issued National Security Letters? What if they’re just waiting for us to lay them a bigger trap?

So liberating not to worry where to park, what might happen to your car, to arrive one part of Jazz Fest and depart from another without returning to the same parking lot. Those who only drive will never know that feeling, as if their car were a security blanket. There should be a word for this.

Does ranked choice Voting Increase voter turnout and mobilization? Many jurisdictions in the United States have recently adopted single-winner ranked choice voting (RCV) to replace first-past-the-post plurality electi…

NYC also uses ranked choice voting here, which political science studies show, “We find significant and substantially higher probabilities of turnout in places that use RCV…than in similar places that do not.”

I thought you had intended the unintentional pop-up control to demonstrate your point.

To cover the incredible jump in road maintenance, extra traffic, and hardware, charge: congestion zones for all cars; autonomous cars distinctly plated; high-occupancy lanes; VMT charge for all cars. We don’t want to discourage the safety benefits of self-driving. Regions should study and prepare.

My first visit to New Orleans surprised me how well public drinking could work, Bourbon Street closed to cars and other streets open to all. I hear of similar arrangements in Europe all working. Dump our puritanical blue laws, and just ban driving, drunk or otherwise.