Bora Chang, MPH

Engineered stone workers get lung transplants as industry pushes Congress for legal shield Silicosis is a public health problem unfolding for engineered stone fabricators across America, and questions are mounting about who is ultimately responsible if workers get sick

Hundreds of workers who fabricate kitchen countertops from artificial stone slabs have developed silicosis. Dozens have died.

The industry's response: ask congress for complete immunity from lawsuits filed by sick workers.

Check out this powerful news report by Anna Werner for @investigatetv.com

A red knit hat, a symbol of resistance from Norway

I made one of the hats, used two diff yarns bc I ran out but almost the same hue, also super hard to find red yarn these days www.ctpublic.org/2026-01-31/a...

This Day in Labor History: March 3, 1931. President Herbert Hoover signed the Davis-Bacon Act, establishing a requirement for the government to pay local prevailing wages on public works projects. Let's talk Davis-Bacon, how it helps the trades, and the lies that it is a racist law!

BREAKING — 51 Iranian children are dead after a strike hits Minab girls elementary school in Iran.

3Dimensions™ Mammography System Hologic is a global champion of women’s health, we integrate The Science of Sure into everything we do to help improve and save lives through early detection and proactive treatment.

A performance art piece where people watch technicians guide women for mammograms, ie surrender the most sensitive parts of their bodies to the tortilla press/dance the most awkward dance with a robot machine while holding your breath

www.hologic.com/hologic-prod...

Trump's war on national park signs is even dumber than you think Inside the administration's covert campaign against "negative" placards.

“We are being undermined by a clown show of greedy billionaire priorities that are not of service to the parks or country.”

@nrdc.org completed this excellent analysis of how power plant emissions increased in 2025, paying special attention to coal-fired power plants to sought 2-year exemptions from pollution rules.

I decided to recreate and look a bit further into the data.

HBO Told ‘The Pitt’ to Make ICE Storyline More ‘Balanced’ The streamer’s top-rated show filmed the episode during its parent company’s attempted merger.

If HBO was already pressuring the Pitt TV show to make an ICE interfering in the emergency room story line more balanced, just imagine what's going to happen when the Ellison's take full control.

www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/hbo...

Taking page from Adams, Mayor Mamdani proposes NYC library cuts Library advocates called the mayor’s proposed budget “terrible.”

Mamdani makes cuts to library funding :( as reported in the gothamist

“If you're just going to say, ‘Oh, I love the library,’ but you’re not actually supporting them, then that’s a real disappointment and, frankly, bulls---,” said Abby Emerson”

gothamist.com/news/taking-...

The Uncanny Artifice of George Washington I got a number of fascinating replies to yesterday’s post about the...

i really love @alexiscoe.bsky.social's biography of washington because she gets at exactly this: the fact that "george washington" is a character created by george washington, a man so consumed with presenting himself as an example of republican virtue that he became one

SCOTUS changed the rules for bringing cases to the court because John Roberts won't sell his stocks Roberts and Alito are the only two justices who own individual stocks. Also: A new lawsuit challenges the Trump admin's removal of the Pride flag at the Stonewall Monument.

SCOTUS is dealing with problems that arise from justices’ ownership of individual stocks.

What did the court do to address this ethical question? Did the justices agree to divest from individual stock ownership? Of course not.

Parties are directed to include stock ticker symbols in their briefs.

(1/11) If you live in NY, you’ve probably started seeing a new warning: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.” This mandatory disclosure went into effect late last year, and it’s the first attempt by a US state to grapple with a new generation of surveillance pricing.

@andreapitzer.bsky.social "concentration camp regimes in their early stages often make use of large open infrastructure to convert into detention spaces. Dachau was converted from a shuttered factory into a concentration camp in 1933"
degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/building-t...

Detention Reports has been updated to include a national map of all active ICE detention facilities that link to individual facility reports. Learn about this new feature and other new features at my latest post: austinkocher.substack.com/p/the-best-s...

Map showing tens of thousands of protests across the US between Trump's inauguration last year and January 31, 2026.

The volume & geographic distribution of protest nationwide during year 1 of Trump's second term was extraordinary.

LIVE SOON: ICE’s failure in Minnesota & the looming DHS shutdown Starting Feb 13 at 3:00 PM EST

Going live with @davidnir.com at 3pm eastern to discuss DHS's failure in Minnesota, the looming shutdown, and more. We'll also take live questions from viewers.

Tune in:

I also have often made this observation stated below: the arguments of the deniers of human-caused climate change are so poor, so easily refuted, and intended only for gullible lay people, that they basically prove how strong and compelling the evidence for human-caused climate change really is.

This week I learned that Glide floss has PFAS forever chemicals on it bc of course it does

How MAHA Exploits the Flaws of Modern Science Opinion | The weaknesses in science’s processes have been weaponized against it. It’s time to confront those flaws and fix them.

C. Brandon Ogbunu calls for rethinking how research is rewarded, evaluated, and shared to strengthen science from within.

California’s Avian Flu Safety Rules Are Strong — Their Enforcement Isn’t. As H5N1 infects over 70% of the state’s dairy herds, exposed farmworkers are left without PPE or mitigation training in their native language. And some aren’t informed of an outbreak at all.

As avian flu surges again, advocates in California believe it’s imperative that farmworkers receive more protective gear and training on the virus in their primary language. @greymoran.bsky.social reports:

Alito From an award-winning journalist, the authoritative—and explosive—inside story of Justice Samuel Alito and his powerful role in shaping the Supreme Court...

Oh god, Mollie Hemmingway is dropping a fellacious bio of Alito in April.

Folks, this man is *so* going to retire at the end of the term. Senate Democrats, PLEASE staff up. This is *going to happen.*

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/molli...

Project Salt Box.

Listen to this. Not a penny more for this. Abolish and prosecute anyone who had anything to do with it.

AOC on DHS Warehouses: I think every American should be alarmed. They are building—and have built—a black box system that disappears people, both immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.

The vision and policy and actions of this admin against the vision of what the US is in many pockets and what it could be, all in such a joyous way, and that the horses are essentially neck and neck and which will edge out, if we will it and stand up for the vision we believe in

The thing the halftime show reminded me of was something Jared Diamond said about how this century will essentially play out like (heavily paraphrasing) a horse race btw 2 forces, one of progress+light and the other destruction+darkness, and what Bad Bunny offered was such a counterpoint to

A vibrant, wide-angle photo of a colorful outdoor mural promoting the "Super Bowl LX Apple Music Halftime Show." The mural is painted on a long blue wall in a sunlit, tropical setting with real palm trees and bright pink bougainvillea flowers cascading over the top. The artwork features a playful, surreal collage of cultural and football-themed elements: Central Text: The Apple Music logo in bold yellow and red 3D lettering is flanked by "SUPER BOWL LX" above and "HALFTIME SHOW" below. Iconic Imagery: Large illustrations of a golden trumpet, pink sunglasses, maracas, dominoes, and a cup of coffee with a musical note in the foam. Football Elements: Brown footballs are depicted growing on palm trees like coconuts and resting on the ground. Foreground: A young girl in a yellow dress walks along the sidewalk in front of the mural, passing a small goalpost illustration where a green parrot is perched. The overall aesthetic is warm, festive, and celebrates a fusion of Latin-inspired culture and American football.

I'm going to do a thread of all the references and context behind Bad Bunny's performance and what it means for Puerto Ricans to see this on the biggest stage.

The opening title screen is a street mural in Puerto Rico that comes to life with footballs as coconuts.

Follow along!

Good morning! Just checking in to suggest: Please protect your attention while preserving your ability to act. Have a good one!

Please don't accuse people in knitted hats of only wearing their supposed politics if all you're doing is posting, which is basically just another way of wearing your politics. It's a silly thing to attack people over in any case. Using fashion to signal support for ongoing acts of rebellion is good