Our reporters interviewed 40 of the men the Trump administration sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador: They described being beaten, sexually assaulted by guards and driven to the brink of suicide. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...

BREAKING: Mark Wolf, appointed to the federal bench by Ronald Reagan, writes that he is resigning as a judge to have the freedom to speak out against the president's assault on the rule of law. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

"The Agriculture Department also said in its memo that states could lose access to some federal money to manage the SNAP program if they failed to comply, and may be 'liable' for funding full benefits that the federal government did not authorize." @tonyromm.bsky.social

I can't even find the words for how shameful this is. (gift article)

I had a dose of this and how government was an obstacle for the pure Food and Drug laws in The Poison Squad by @deborahb.bsky.social She recounts the advances in policy& the personalities involved in fostering and dismissing food sciences. The government was not run by science and it still isn't

Oh, just get vaccinated (part 3000). And also, some fascinating science on the link between a viral infection and dementia in this story.

Reductions in Force not required by shutdowns, have never happened in any previous shutdown, and a judge has ruled they are illegal. The shutdown is an excuse, not a reason, for them to do what they wanted to do: destroy government.

The wonderful writers @sn-media-guild.bsky.social have been waiting on a fair contract almost long enough to gestate a baby elephant (620 days). They have neither a contract NOR a baby elephant. All they want is a contract, to be paid for their amazing expertise.

“.. in a group Signal chat, .. he wrote in part: ‘I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.’” @reuters.com #Chicago www.reuters.com/world/us/bor...

Did Knee-Jerk Contrarianism Ruin the New York Times?

Besides Prop. 50, the county measure I canvassed for, which raises the local sales tax to replace medicaid funding for county hospitals, also appears to have passed. www.mercurynews.com/2025/11/04/s...

Did you know that the GOP Congress has worked less than 20 days since July? Yet we’re still paying their full salary.

Beshear: Let me be clear. The president has both the funding and the authority to fund snap during a shutdown. In fact, every other president in every other shutdown has done so. People going hungry in this instance is a choice that this president has made.

Blumenthal: We’re going to continue finding more of the ballroom donors who evidently didn’t want their names revealed. And let me name them: BlackRock, Susquehanna International, Nvidia, OpenAI, Vantive, and Extremity Care. And so, we will use every possible resource to expose this corruption to

Wojtek is such a smart science journalist.

FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...

What we know, final edition of the night: [Now in 3 parts] —Prop 50 wins —VA Dems flip Gov, LG, AG —Dems gain leg seats in VA, NJ, & MS —Dems defend NJ-Gov —Dems win NJ+VA trifectas —Mamdani wins —PA Dems win state supreme court —ME anti-mail voting measure loses —GA Dems flip 2 statewide offices

And all of this.

HEY HEY HEY!!! You missed that CO passed 2 billstoincrease taxes on the wealthy to pay for school lunches!!! www.skyhinews.com/news/early-r...

A sign of hope. If we stay smart.

My tiny town school board in western WA had 4 of their 5 seat up for election. All 4 went to the more left leaning candidates. It's a non-partisan position, but M4L and anti-trans candidates were running as the opponents. And the two eligible city council positions went to Dems too Is this hope?

Now this is definitely a positive step.

Good things are possible and we don’t have to settle.

With all the excitement about the election I don’t want this story to get lost. This morning 8 car wash workers in Boston were kidnapped by federal agents in the largest workplace raid in the area in recent memory. The details are horrifying. 🧵 www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/04/m...

A great closing ad/argument. And such props to Mamdani’s media team. A 1970 Vietnam era organ-heavy song titled “Spirit in the Sky” dredged up as one of the deepest of cuts is an amazing sound choice, and a brilliant one.

Oleander is serious stuff

Take this seriously: At least 20 brands of supplements, labeled as containing either Brazil seeds (sometimes called nuts) or tejocote root have tested positive for oleander. And oleander is famously poisonous. 1/4

Oklahoma, poisoning Oklahomans. www.propublica.org/article/okla...

It is so fun to go on a smart podcast like Ologies and be allowed to talk about my deep fascination with all things poisonous. Because poisons are fascinating!

This may be the most frenetic and pathetic backpedaling yet. Instead, they're going to teach it phenomenology? www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...

I see that CBS chose not to air this part. It probably explains much of what they did decide to air.

The USDA sent an email to grocery stores telling them they are prohibited from offering special discounts to customers affected by the SNAP funding lapse. I'm aware of at least 2 stores that had offered struggling customers a discount, then withdrew it after receiving this email

"With little notice, evidence of the world’s changing climate has already sneaked into our sweets." (gift article)

Oh fer crissake EAT THE NUTS YOU LIKE www.today.com/health/diet-...

Out of respect for the decision taken by His Majesty King Charles of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and in furtherance of the special relationship between said Kingdom and the United States of America, I wish to humbly suggest the latter RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES

Because if you can’t see it, it can’t hurt you. Said no one ever.

When we still have radioactive honey in this country due to the above ground testing of the mid-20th century? Not to mention the ongoing contamination of the South Pacific. This isn’t just crazy but stupid.

There’s nothing too crazy for these folks

Pritzker: "Imagine it. Children who woke up that morning, expectant with joy & excitement to put on their costumes & celebrate with their neighbors in what they thought was a safe place at their homes. Armed, masked agents, terrorizing innocent people, especially children, is unconscionable."

Let's help Clay out here with some math. The $4200/yr. is for a household. Average SNAP household has 1.9 people. So that's $2210/person. $2210/year is $184/month, and that's a little over $6. per day. Clay, let's see you stockpile groceries on $6/day. Hell, let's see you eat on $6/day.

Ever happy to see kindness.

Listeria is nothing to mess around with: "Since the last CDC case count update on September 25, a total of 7 new illnesses from 3 states have been reported, with 2 additional deaths reported.  Of the 26 people with information available, 25 have been hospitalized and 6 deaths have been reported."

Fake Hurricane Videos of AI-Generated Sharks Are Flooding Social Media: How to Spot Them | Your default assumption should just be “any shark in a flooded city street is fake”

Oh, just get vaccinated. (part 2000)

The FDA added another brand to its list of ground cinnamon with unsafe lead levels today. You'll find it (DEVI) and the other 16 brands so far identified in the alert below. Do note that none of these are from spice companies like McCormick or Penzeys (which actually test pretty well).

Three times in the past two weeks, editorials at the 'Washington Post' failed to disclose that they focused on matters in which owner Jeff Bezos had a material interest.

Four things to know about new mpox alert in Europe + cases spreading in California www.healthbeat.org/2025/10/28/m...

Illnesses reported in 17 EU countries, plus the UK, the US, and Canada.