Lisa Wartenberg Vélez

You just had to be there.

Woman seated holding a fan in a formal portrait gazing at the viewer. Library of Congress.

Josephine Silone Yates was a professor of chemistry & among the 1st women in the US to head a university science department. She was also a journalist & editor & served as the president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1901.

The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced. I spoke out against hatred and violence in America — and it cost me my job.

Some personal news:

I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting.

Thread incoming.

substack.com/@karenattiah...

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT August Term 2024 (Argued: June 24, 2025 Decided: September 8, 2025) Docket No. 24-644 E. JEAN CARROLL, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellee, DONALD TRUMP, in his personal capacity, Defendant-Counter-Claimant-Appellant: ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK Before: CHIN, MERRIAM, and KAHN, Circuit Judges. Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Kaplan, J-), awarding $83.3 million in damages to *The Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to amend the official caption as set forth above. plaintiff-counter-defendant-appellee E. Jean Carroll against defendant-counter-claimant-appellant Donald J. Trump. A jury found that then-President Trump acted with common law malice when he made defamatory statements about Carroll in June 2019 and awarded compensatory and punitive damages. Trump appeals, arguing that he is entitled to presidential immunity or, in the alternative, a new trial. Trump also contends that the jury's damages award is excessive and must be remitted. AFFIRMED.

BREAKING: A unanimous three-judge panel of the Second Circuit upholds the $83.3 million jury verdict for E. Jean Carroll in her defamation case against Donald Trump. ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/is...

Omg I thought people were joking. This isn’t satire?

I'm restless. Things are calling me away. My hair is being pulled by the stars again.

~Anais Nin

[Eadweard Muybridge (1887)]

Veterans’ Care at Risk Under Trump as Hundreds of Doctors and Nurses Reject Working at VA Hospitals Amid concerns about the stability of the agency, records show nearly 40% of the doctors offered jobs at the VA from January through March of this year turned them down — quadruple the rate of rejectio...

One disabled Marine veteran has not had a primary care doctor assigned to him since his previous doctor left in the winter, his wife said. The VA “was never like this before. There’s a lack of staff, empty rooms, locked doors.”

Listen I’m sure he just fell asleep in a sunbeam somewhere dreaming of inhuman deportation techniques, or accidentally glued himself to one of his golden toilets with his own orange clown makeup, but we can all have a little happy hope in our hearts it ends up being something else, can’t we?

Live your life so that people don’t consider rumors of your death a form of edging.

LELO CHOOSES VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE Farmworker and union leader Alfredo "Lelo" Juarez Zeferino was granted a voluntary departure on July 14, and is now back in Mexico with family and friends. Lelo had been in detention at the privately-run NW Detention Center in Tacoma, WA since March 25, after he was pulled out of his car and arrested by ICE while driving his partner to work. In his four months of detention, Lelo had several hearings, but like hundreds of other people held at the Tacoma facility, he was denied bond. The judge who denied his bond is one of several at this facility claiming they don't have jurisdiction to grant bonds to immigrants who entered the country without legal documentation. "They are the only immigration judges in the country choosing to interpret the law in this way," reports The Stand. Lelo has joined a class action lawsuit by the NW Immigrant Rights Project to challenge this practice. "We are relieved that he successfully removed himself from ICE’s inhumane treatment," Community to Community Development said in their statement. "We value his wisdom and unwavering clarity that brought him to decide for voluntary departure...The conditions at Northwest ICE Processing Center have always been unacceptable, and we respect Lelo’s choice to remove himself from the continued physical and psychological violence of detention. It was increasingly clear to all of us that due process was not being followed, and no justice would be found."

DELMY CHOOSES VOLUNTARY DEPARTURE The Workers' Center of Central NY has been fighting to free their member Delmy Rendon, who was arrested by Border Patrol when she got in a car accident during a snowstorm and sought help from neighbors who reported her to immigration authorities. Despite having been paroled into the country legally and having no criminal record, Delmy was held in ICE detention in Louisiana for nearly six months. At the time of her arrest, Delmy and her husband Luis had been waiting for years for the immigration court to schedule their asylum case. And in a bond hearing in May, Delmy's lawyer cited specific points of immigration law that clearly show she does not qualify to be put in expedited removal. However, the judge insisted he did not have jurisdiction to authorize bond. Delmy reserved her right to appeal this decision, but this week she made the difficult decision to accept a voluntary departure to Guatemala, separating her from her husband and daughters who remain in Northern NY. WCCNY reports that Delmy expressed deep gratitude for everyone who supported her, especially by sending letters describing what was happening outside. She also documented her experience in detention and will be sharing more stories of the conditions soon, to continue her activism and resistance.

IN VERMONT, DAIRY WORKERS KEEP GETTING DETAINED After rallying around nine dairy workers detained in April (three of whom are now safely home!) two more Migrant Justice members were detained on June 14: Jose Ignacio “Nacho” De La Cruz was driving with his stepdaughter Heidi Perez when they were pulled over and detained after agents smashed their car window. Following a series of rallies and actions by the community, Nacho and Heidi were granted bail on July 10. "I am free thanks to all of you and to the entire immigrant community that was supporting us from day one" Nacho said upon his release. "Together we grow stronger every day. Join with Migrant Justice to fight for our rights. Sí se puede!" This latest detention happened just as two landmark laws took effect in Vermont, both of which Nacho and Heidi had a hand in winning: The Education Equity Act guarantees in-state tuition rates and need-based financial aid at public colleges and universities for all Vermont students, regardless of status; and The Housing Access for Immigrant Families Act prohibits landlords from requiring applicants to provide a Social Security number.

The @foodchainworkers.bsky.social just sent out a newsletter and it is clear that the ICE raids are also an attack on organized labor.

Let my dawg cook!!!! ✊🏾

We don't tax the rich so we don't have funding for critical public infrastructure so we have to rely on the rich to for critical services which makes the rich richer while public services degrade which increases our reliance on the rich so we don't tax the rich and don't have funding for critical pu

Scooby I am as white as a hotel towel, and the closest thing to Mexican I am was a single all inclusive resort stay in Cancun. I put a Mexican flag sticker on my old Tacoma abd was promptly pulled over by ICE in San Antonio. I'm happy to waste their time 1d RookaTX This is the way Scooby • RookaTX Their big question was like, "why the sticker" I told them it was on the truck when I bought it-and they suggested I remove it. Obnoxious creatures. 1d

White woman puts Mexican flag on her truck to waste ICE’s time.

He had the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, Ukraine, the EU and NATO in the White House and he made them wait while he went to get instructions from Putin ...

For forty minutes?!

The pan right fascist movement is a mafia style network of dark money donors, groups and slush funds all aimed at overturning democracy forever. The far right assault on America is coordinated act between mega wealthy donors, politicians and the courts and has been for decades.

The REAL STORY is STILL THIS: AND WE MUST KEEP IT THAT WAY.

SpaceX Gets Billions From the Government. It Gives Little to Nothing Back in Taxes.

"But SpaceX has most likely paid little to no federal income taxes since its founding in 2002 and has privately told investors that it may never have to pay any, according to internal company documents reviewed by The New York Times."

My wife shared this with me and I’m tellin you… it’s worth the read.

Someone forgot to take down this webpage:

www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/v...

Fun fact! "the U.S. military has been identified as the largest single institutional emitter of greenhouse gases worldwide"

www.newsweek.com/climate-chan...

Canadian man awaiting deportation dies at detention facility in downtown Miami The cause of death for the 49-year-old man is still under official investigation.

Johnny Noviello moved from Canada to Daytona Beach when he was 10 years old. He grew up in Florida and became a lawful permanent resident.

On Monday, June 23, he died at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami, after six weeks in immigration detention.
www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

'A Black Hole of Energy Use': Meta's Massive AI Data Center Is Stressing Out a Louisiana Community Details about how Meta's nearly Manhattan-sized data center will impact consumers' power bills are still secret.

Surprise, surprise: Meta's Manhattan-sized data center is going to be powered by three new gas power plants. Residents of the nearby town have no idea how much their bill will increase: "It’s like building the power impact of a large city overnight”

www.404media.co/a-black-hole...

Former critics who once demanded Cuomo resign are now endorsing him A POLITICO review of Cuomo’s touted endorsers found that few of them stood by him in 2021.

This whole, "sexual assault and harassment is bad when Trump does it, but ok when our side does it," is sending a really clear message that the old guard of Democratic leadership only cares about women when it's politically advantageous.
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

Today is a particularly good day to support trans mutual aid as a concrete way to fight back against the fuckers trying to take their healthcare and other rights away.

🧵 of a few groups, campaigns, and individuals you can donate to:

Agreed. #GunControl

I’d like to say “we’re better than this.” But the truth is that this dark and hateful strain of nativism and bigotry has always pulsed through the body politic of America. Now, however, it’s’ being activated and applauded from a lawless White House.