NEW: Billions of pounds of food are imported to the U.S. each year. The FDA inspects foreign producers to ensure what we're eating is safe from pathogens and dangerous manufacturing practices. But now, after Trump's drastic staff cuts, these inspections have plummeted to a historic low. 🧵/

Paxton jumping on RFK’s anti-tylenol during pregnancy train claiming Johnson & Johnson “knew” acetaminephin causes autism and ADHD, relying on “considerable body of evidence” recently highlighted by Trump admin - www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/release...

Because they need to innovate faster…. so utterly on brand for Meta. Without more effective regulation no company is going to spend the money to protect privacy. God forbid they have to have more conversations before sending another crappy product into the world. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/t...

The illegal firing without cause of former FTC Commissioners @bedoyausa.bsky.social and Rebecca Slaughter robbed Americans of a bipartisan FTC working for the protection of the people - fortunately Bedoya is still sharing insights from his service, describing a way forward

Ring founder: “I’m focused on: How can I get the highest density of camera coverage in a neighborhood matched with AI to make neighborhoods safer?…It’s not just hard crime.” Just put this guy and the Flock guy on a deserted island together so they can surveill each other until the end times.

““Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone,” Dr. Kornbluth wrote.” Love the leadership by MIT here www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

Honestly what will it take for people to quit buying into this Amazon surveillance nightmare? Hard pass - ditch the ring And of course people whose jobs require them to go to people’s homes will have no choice. Oh right…. Amazon employees. techstory.in/amazons-subs...

“By law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must approve an application if it demonstrates that the generic drug is identical to the brand-name drug” Well, these days, good to see a law actually being followed…. And good news for accessibility.

I am pleased to report that Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Todd Eddins has dropped another total evisceration of the Supreme Court. He says originalism is a fraud—and the Republican justices are shamelessly making up facts and history to impose radical Christian nationalism: slate.com/news-and-pol...

Many Americans lack basic knowledge about fertility. @olgakhazan.bsky.social spoke with doctors and other experts about the information they think should be included in sex ed for middle and high schoolers:

“The images shared do not violate our policies” - maybe meta policies need an update and co. should rethink using pics of adolescent girls to promote threads to grown men www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Meanwhile apnews.com/article/plan...

Mifepristone, one of the drugs used in medication abortion, has an EXEMPLARY safety record. But a bunch of extremist politicians are trying to cast doubt on its safety and efficacy, as part of their attempt to take away access to abortion care. Don't be fooled—here are the facts:

Two models of Amazon smart glasses—one for hip consumers who can order products on the go, and one for wage workers, whose efficiency and whereabouts will be tracked continuously. One is a luxury item, one will be mandatory. Both ensure nonstop surveillance. Both are extractive. Both are handcuffs.

Wow

Maria Rojas, a midwife in TX, was arrested in June for allegedly providing illegal abortions. But the indictment only has details about 1 case, which shows that Rojas was providing miscarriage care ‼️ The witness says Rojas prescribed misoprostol b/c she thought the pregnancy was not viable.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court — over the objection of Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson — allows the Trump administration’s racial profiling of people working certain types of jobs in its immigration raids during litigation.

BREAKING: The Texas Legislature just officially passed HB7, the new “bounty hunter” ban on abortion medication. #txlege State Sen. Molly Cook said, “It is my honor to fight for the rest of my life to repeal these bills.” thebarbedwire.com/2025/09/01/t...

Local man embraces fascism.

BREAKING: Social Security Administration chief data officer and whistle-blower Charles Borges has resigned after bombshell report that SSA put highly-sensitive data at risk. He sent out an email to colleagues moments ago. Here is the text of his email shared with me:

CPPA is seeking a part-time Student Assistant to support our Enforcement Division. You’ll help track consumer complaints, manage emails, compile reports, & support investigations. Great opportunity for students interested in public service. Apply secure10.saashr.com/ta/6158859.c...

Mifepristone is one of two drugs used in the most common medication abortion regimen. It's safe, effective & widely accepted. Guttmacher scientists are proud to sign onto a letter by @ansirh.bsky.social & @uclarepropolicy.bsky.social calling on the FDA to protect access to #MedicationAbortion.

Want to see the economic impact of #NIH grant cuts in your community? Check out @joshuasweitz.bsky.social and colleagues' project here. Tell your friends and neighbors what is happening. scienceimpacts.org

"”The more we push this research forward, the more transparent our brains become," [Nita] Farahany says, adding that measures to protect people's mental privacy are lagging behind technology that decodes signals in the brain.”

Thank you, Rumeysa Ozturk for writing your experience in an ICE prison and thank you Vanity Fair for publishing it. This is pure cruelty. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/r...

(and a big thank you to Jezebel for wading into this story and figuring out what really happened!)

NEW: A Texas woman filed a wrongful death suit in federal court today alleging a man gave her abortion pills without her consent. The suit also names Aid Access and its founder Rebecca Gomperts. The woman is represented by SB 8 architect Jonathan Mitchell. Me at @autonomynews.co:

Tech companies continue to rush products to market without proper safety measures. AI programs that write code are making the problem worse. And since the US still doesn’t have a comprehensive data privacy law, consumers are left to fend for themselves. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

The co-directors of @plancpills.bsky.social, which provides information about abortion pills and resources for self-managed medication abortions, speak out about their work—and their visions for the future of abortion—in the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward.

Banning abortion makes pregnancy less safe. Docs in #NorthCarolina talk about challenges providing evidence-based care. www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2025/07/24/d...

The government has proposed expanding the mandatory collection of social media identifiers. It would widen social media surveillance to include not only travelers and visa applicants and visa holders, but also their U.S. citizen contacts. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Seems like this device would have legal issues in two-party consent states - not to mention ethical issues everywhere #privacy www.wsj.com/tech/ai/amaz...

SolidGoldMagiKarp is clearly the villain. #eddington

Trump admin destroying $9.7m of contraceptives “because it could not sell them to any “eligible buyers”, in part because of US laws and rules that prohibit sending US aid to organizations that provide abortion services, counsel people about the procedure or advocate for the right to it overseas”

“"This settlement simply affirms what our office already made clear in court: we do not have the authority to prosecute referrals for out-of-state services."” AG could have easily made this clear months ago. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

…. If only West Virginia actually cared about the “health and safety” of women. #repro #abortion adfmedia.org/wp-content/u...

ICE is searching a massive insurance and medical bill database to find deportation targets 🔗 www.404media.co/ice-is-searc...

Flock Safety trumpets its facilitation of “cross-jurisdictional collaboration” between different law enforcement agencies. But where are the safeguards to prevent its system from being used for ICE lookups or abortion surveillance?

“I think there is a new sort of ambient animosity towards the AI systems. AI companies have speedrun the Silicon Valley trajectory.”

Spending the holiday reading dissents - because dissent seems quintessentially American, is valuable and is still permitted. But it is unequivocally endangered - the right to dissent - on the Court, in the papers, within government, and on the ground is being chilled and circumscribed at every turn.

“today’s order not only excuses (once again) the Government’s undisguised con- tempt for the Judiciary; it also leaves the District Court without any guidance about how this litigation should pro- ceed.” J. Sotomayor www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

In a stunning reversal, the Senate voted 99-1 this morning to strip from Trump's big bill a 10-year moratorium on state-level AI regulations. Gift link to my story on how it happened and who's celebrating: wapo.st/3TOyiaG

Come work with me, supporting in-house technology and security to help a vital non-profit investigative newsroom work more safely and effectively using technology. This is one of those roles where you can truly make a difference. job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

“Thomas’s logic makes it far easier for the government to justify limitations on access to material that the state decides harms children—and with no stable limit on what “harm” is.” And in this scenario what harms kids also determines the extent to which TX will violate privacy of adults.

Brilliant! Don’t miss it - “Searches:Selfhood in the Digital Age” Thank you @vauhinivara.bsky.social for this creative, provocative, thoughtful and important book

Kelcie has been all over this horrifying story Opinion and order: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... One page judgement: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

A major danger of LLMs is that humans are SO predisposed to attribute knowledge to any entity that uses natural language fluently. We cannot imagine that a machine that outputs natural-seeming speech/text doesn't have cognition. Brilliantly articulated by @emilymbender.bsky.social et al. (2021).

Let's be crystal clear: ending insurance coverage of abortion is tantamount to a ban for many people. The first body blow to Roe v. Wade was when SCOTUS upheld a ban on Medicaid coverage in 1980's Harris v. McRae

Today in Luxury Surveillance.