Julie J Lee

Two Die in NYC Basements as Squall Brings Massive Rain Burst to City Two men, one in Central Brooklyn and another in Upper Manhattan, were found dead in flooded areas after intense rain arrived late on Thursday.

Two people died in flooded New York City buildings on Thursday after sudden and intense rain brought a deluge of water to the city in a major afternoon squall.

buff.ly/ZMd1Ow4

Citing Trump Order on “Biological Truth,” VA Makes It Harder for Male Veterans With Breast Cancer to Get Coverage A Department of Veterans Affairs memo obtained by ProPublica erects new roadblocks to care for veterans with the rare but deadly cancer. The agency cites no new science but relies on an executive orde...

NEW: “As of Sept. 30, the department no longer presumes service connection for male breast cancer,” a Veterans Affairs rep confirmed to @propublica.org, meaning newly diagnosed veterans will have to show that their cancer is linked to their military service.

By @ericumansky.bsky.social

This was a tough but necessary decision - I posted my own notes on this here, from the perspective of a current PSF board member simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/27/...

I tried OpenAI’s new Atlas browser but I still don’t know what it’s for My impression is that it is little more than cynicism masquerading as software.

www.technologyreview.com/2025/10/27/1...

What To Know About Data Centers As the use of AI increases, data centers are popping up across the country. The Onion shares everything you need to know about the controversial facilities.  Q: What do data centers need to run? A: Wa...

Q: Do data centers use a lot of water?

A: What are you, a fish?

theonion.com/what-to-know...

Picture of the East Wing demolition of the White House taken on my flight out of DCA.

That’s called burying the lead

Hochul signs bill banning NY landlords from using algorithm software to set rents The Council of Economic Advisors estimated that price-fixing algorithms cost renters nationwide $3.8 billion more in inflated rents in 2023.

gothamist.com/news/hochul-...

When Face Recognition Doesn’t Know Your Face Is a Face An estimated 100 million people live with facial differences. As face recognition tech becomes widespread, some say they’re getting blocked from accessing essential systems and services.

An estimated 100 million people live with facial differences. As face recognition tech becomes widespread, some say they’re getting blocked from accessing essential systems and services. www.wired.com/story/when-f...

US revokes six foreigners’ visas over social media comments criticizing Charlie Kirk State department says it has ‘no obligation’ to host foreign nationals who ‘celebrate heinous’ death of far-right activist

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Department of State v @StateDept g.. The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans. The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk. Here are just a few examples of aliens who are no longer welcome in the U.S.: 5:55 PM • Oct 14, 2025 • 34.1K Views

BREAKING: Marco Rubio's State Department announces publicly that it is exercising unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in revoking people's visas based on comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.

National COVID-19 trends, October 14 - The Sick Times COVID-19 and other infectious disease data continue to be very limited while the U.S. government is shut down. Last week, the CDC updated a couple of national COVID-19 metrics; this week, the agency d...

And also today @thesicktimes.org: My latest attempt to summarize COVID-19 trends, while we have absolutely zero new CDC data during the government shutdown. Luckily some wastewater & state-level sources are still updating! thesicktimes.org/2025/10/14/n...

The surveillance empire that tracked world leaders, a Vatican enemy, and maybe you Inside the hidden world of First Wap, whose untraceable tech has targeted politicians, journalists, celebrities, and activists around the globe.

Legendary work from @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social.

He and a team uncovered a trove of data from a surveillance firm — location data from thousands of phone numbers from nearly every country on Earth.

The firm had been tracking everyone from Erik Prince to journalists to Jared Leto.

The Surreal Practicality of Protesting As an Inflatable Frog Say goodbye to the Guy Fawkes masks and hello to inflatable frogs and dinosaurs.

"A frog [..] standing up to ICE covered in weapons and armor is absurd, and that’s part of why it’s hitting so hard. But the frog is also a practical piece [..] in an age of mass surveillance, police brutality, and masked federal agents disappearing people"
www.404media.co/the-surreal-...

Americans are losing millions to scammers at crypto ATMs. Here’s how companies profit Companies often fail to refund money to victims and aggressively fight police to claw back scam money seized from machines.

Incredible reporting and writing from the CNN investigative team on the scammy world of crypto ATMs

Cover of City & State NY magazine for October 13, 2025, showing Elle Bisgaard-Church sitting on a floor covered in Zohran Mamdani campaign signs. The headline reads: "New Player. New Game. First-time campaign manager Elle Bisgaard-Chrurch launched Zohran into political stardom. Consultant class: Take note"

Never heard of Elle Bisgaard-Church? You will soon. The 34-year-old DSA member is Zohran Mamdani's most trusted staffer and helped shape his successful primary campaign.

@hollypret.bsky.social profiled her for @cityandstateny.bsky.social: www.cityandstateny.com/personality/...

I had the honor of once organizing a dialogue between Miss Major and Tourmaline for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, hosted by the NYPL. Major was a people’s hero, a tremendous force of revolutionary commitment and love.

HUD Issues Layoff Notices, Targeting Fair Housing Staff With Deep Cuts Fair housing staffers who investigate claims of housing discrimination at field offices nationwide were among the hundreds of HUD staffers who received layoff notices.

HUD laid off so many fair housing investigators on Friday that it shuttered the regional offices that oversee discrimination cases in 9 states: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

BREAKING: Masked Border Patrol agents aggressively arrested WGN video producer Debbie Brockman in Lincoln Square Friday morning, supposedly for "obstructing justice." (Video via Josh Thomas on Facebook)

Follow @heartlandsignal for more.

Apple might launch Health+ with AI doctor, food tracking and more Apple is reportedly prepping a Health+ service that will use AI to dispense advice on exercise and eating right.

“Apple is reportedly prepping a Health+ service that will use AI to dispense advice on nutrition, exercise and more.”

Usage of citibikes in new york represented by different size dots

This interactive map of citibike usage in nyc is fascinating: bikesharemap.com/newyork/time...

Nobel committee unable to reach prize winner who is ‘living his best life’ hiking off grid Fred Ramsdell was among those honoured with a 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine but might not know because he is somewhere in Idaho and uncontactable

when you try and get your PhD advisor to review your manuscript 😂

USC sold dead bodies to U.S. military to train IDF medical personnel A review of seven years’ worth of contracts unveiled more than $860,000 to use cadavers in surgical trainings involving the Israeli Defense Forces.

I love when student journalists break a crazy story, especially about their own school. This one is extraordinarily macabre. www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/10/01/u...

The Washington Jost Democracy Dies in Darkness& Supreme Court will let Trump end protected status for Venezuelans for now A federal judge had ruled on Sept. 5 that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem broke the law by revoking the temporary protected status of Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants. Today at 5:16 p.m. EDT 67 З min| %. Summary 口217

“Supreme Court will let Trump _______ _____ _____ _____ for now”

(Mad Libs, 2025 Edition)

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team Documents show that ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.

ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team www.wired.com/story/ice-so...

"There are 19,000 private equity funds in the US. There are 14,000 McDonald's in the US. How are there more private equity funds than McDonald's? That's actually crazy, right?" KKR & Co. partner Alisa Wood said Wednesday at Bloomberg's Women, Money and Power event in London. "Capital coming back is really important. The mark-to-market paper gains only take you so far."

BAD COMPANY
Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream
bookshop.org/a/109816/978...

This is the essential value of a union contract.

Without one, the boss always has the right to change terms and conditions.

With one, both sides are legally bound to the agreement and changes have to be negotiated. If management wants a change, they have to make it worthwhile to employees.

Awww thank you!!

Kickstarter Employees Launch Strike Over Four-Day Workweek, Pay Floor The union wants the company to pay an $85,000 minimum salary to its workers.

Really enjoyed this piece by @jjlee.bsky.social on the @kickstarterunited.org strike: what the union is fighting for, and why it matters to all of us. medium.com/labor-new-yo...