Rebecca McCray
@rebeccakmccray.bsky.social
reporting/writing/engaging
https://www.rebeccakmccray.com/
Previously: audience engagement
@themarshallproject.org via
@djnf.bsky.social
https://www.rebeccakmccray.com/
Previously: audience engagement
@themarshallproject.org via
@djnf.bsky.social
Pinned
The Problem With Screening the Mail in Prisons
New York’s controversy over scanning mail in prisons reflects a national debate involving security and privacy.
www.themarshallproject.org
The NY prison system started scanning legal mail for contraband after the COs strike. The new process has been far from seamless, echoing a national controversy over scanning & screening prison mail. I wrote about it w/ Jamiles Lartey for @themarshallproject.org
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
The dual strikes on Sunday bring the total number of known attacks up to 19 and the death toll to at least 75 people since the Trump administration launched a campaign against drug trafficking in South American waters. https://to.pbs.org/43o3x1F
U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats kill 6 in the eastern Pacific
The dual strikes on Sunday bring the total number of known attacks up to 19 and the death toll to at least 75 people since the Trump administration launched a campaign against drug trafficking in Sout...
www.pbs.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:32 PM
The dual strikes on Sunday bring the total number of known attacks up to 19 and the death toll to at least 75 people since the Trump administration launched a campaign against drug trafficking in South American waters. https://to.pbs.org/43o3x1F
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
Gael Gomez and his family are all but certain to leave the country this week, upending the lives they’ve built in D.C.
But Mount Pleasant's 19-year-old sidewalk astronomer wants people to keep looking up — at the sky and in life.
@samdelgado.bsky.social reports:
But Mount Pleasant's 19-year-old sidewalk astronomer wants people to keep looking up — at the sky and in life.
@samdelgado.bsky.social reports:
Mount Pleasant’s sidewalk astronomer might have to leave his home
But Gael Gomez wants people to keep looking up — at the sky and in life.
51st.news
November 4, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Gael Gomez and his family are all but certain to leave the country this week, upending the lives they’ve built in D.C.
But Mount Pleasant's 19-year-old sidewalk astronomer wants people to keep looking up — at the sky and in life.
@samdelgado.bsky.social reports:
But Mount Pleasant's 19-year-old sidewalk astronomer wants people to keep looking up — at the sky and in life.
@samdelgado.bsky.social reports:
“If I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die protecting my people,” said Jorge, a former day laborer. “I’ve got blood family, but these are my people, too. These are my neighbors.” h/t @hammerandhope.bsky.social
Immigration Raids at This Home Depot Got More Aggressive but Less Effective. The LA Tenants Union Knows Why.
The union’s daily presence tries to give the city’s most vulnerable immigrant workers a measure of safety and gum up Trump’s deportation machine.
hammerandhope.org
October 31, 2025 at 7:22 PM
“If I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die protecting my people,” said Jorge, a former day laborer. “I’ve got blood family, but these are my people, too. These are my neighbors.” h/t @hammerandhope.bsky.social
"We’re not getting enough affordable housing and all the infrastructure [Julie Won] negotiated, we needed that infrastructure anyway. Why is needed public infrastructure contingent upon massive market-rate rezonings?" asked Jenny Dubnau of the Western Queens Community Land Trust.
Council Clears Queens for New Housing and Gives Bronx Armory Another Go
In closely watched rezonings pressed by Mayor Adams, Council members secure local gains — and say it makes the case for them to keep power.
www.thecity.nyc
October 31, 2025 at 1:27 PM
"We’re not getting enough affordable housing and all the infrastructure [Julie Won] negotiated, we needed that infrastructure anyway. Why is needed public infrastructure contingent upon massive market-rate rezonings?" asked Jenny Dubnau of the Western Queens Community Land Trust.
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
"If everyone has to cobble together their own constellation of individual creators $5 at a time? That’s not a media ecosystem. It’s a privatized patchwork of tip jars. Counting on people who pay you directly isn’t the same as not having a boss. You have 100 and can’t afford to piss off any of them."
Patron-Supported Journalism Can’t Be the Future of News
Writing about the failure of patron-supported journalism is itself a kind of...
talkingpointsmemo.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:59 PM
"If everyone has to cobble together their own constellation of individual creators $5 at a time? That’s not a media ecosystem. It’s a privatized patchwork of tip jars. Counting on people who pay you directly isn’t the same as not having a boss. You have 100 and can’t afford to piss off any of them."
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
In a given week, OpenAI estimated that around .07 percent of active ChatGPT users show “possible signs of mental health emergencies related to psychosis or mania” and .15 percent “have conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent.”
Here's How Many People May Use ChatGPT During a Mental Health Crisis Each Week
OpenAI released initial estimates about the share of users who may be experiencing symptoms like delusional thinking, mania, or suicidal ideation, and says it has tweaked GPT-5 to respond more effecti...
www.wired.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:08 PM
In a given week, OpenAI estimated that around .07 percent of active ChatGPT users show “possible signs of mental health emergencies related to psychosis or mania” and .15 percent “have conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent.”
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
"the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH"
well that clears everything up phew
well that clears everything up phew
New: The Pentagon confirms to CNN it will funnel $130M from an anonymous Trump “friend” toward military pay.
Asked about the donor’s identity and any foreign or domestic entanglements, the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
Asked about the donor’s identity and any foreign or domestic entanglements, the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH
www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/p...
Pentagon to use $130 million donation from anonymous Trump ‘friend’ to pay military members | CNN Politics
The Trump administration plans to funnel a $130 million donation from an anonymous ally of President Donald Trump toward paying military service members during the government shutdown, the Defense Dep...
www.cnn.com
October 25, 2025 at 12:53 AM
"the WH referred questions to DoD. DoD then referred questions back to the WH"
well that clears everything up phew
well that clears everything up phew
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
Federal agents are staging a massive operation downtown near Canal street. Show of force with reportedly dozens of agents from agencies including ICE, FBI, IRS, DEA, etx
October 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Federal agents are staging a massive operation downtown near Canal street. Show of force with reportedly dozens of agents from agencies including ICE, FBI, IRS, DEA, etx
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
"When Microsoft opened a data center in central Mexico last year, nearby residents said power cuts became more frequent. Water outages, which once lasted days, stretched for weeks. The shortages led to school cancellations and the spread of stomach bugs in the town of Las Cenizas..."
From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy
www.nytimes.com
October 21, 2025 at 11:05 AM
"When Microsoft opened a data center in central Mexico last year, nearby residents said power cuts became more frequent. Water outages, which once lasted days, stretched for weeks. The shortages led to school cancellations and the spread of stomach bugs in the town of Las Cenizas..."
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
“.. They are the asylum seekers, the rule followers. They go into the federal building holding papers .. hoping for a measure of due process. Some leave the courthouse with a hearing date set months or years from now. Others disappear into ICE’s prison system.”
@nymag.com
nymag.com/intelligence...
@nymag.com
nymag.com/intelligence...
October 20, 2025 at 6:07 PM
“.. They are the asylum seekers, the rule followers. They go into the federal building holding papers .. hoping for a measure of due process. Some leave the courthouse with a hearing date set months or years from now. Others disappear into ICE’s prison system.”
@nymag.com
nymag.com/intelligence...
@nymag.com
nymag.com/intelligence...
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
NEW: New York Focus reporters have had their public records requests take as long as 1,266 days — and counting.
Despite promising greater transparency, Hochul vetoed a bill to speed up New York's notoriously slow public records process.
Despite promising greater transparency, Hochul vetoed a bill to speed up New York's notoriously slow public records process.
Hochul Promised Faster Public Records. She Just Vetoed The Fix.
Governor Hochul vetoed a measure to speed up New York's public records process, which is among the slowest in the nation. We asked our reporters about…
nysfocus.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:15 PM
NEW: New York Focus reporters have had their public records requests take as long as 1,266 days — and counting.
Despite promising greater transparency, Hochul vetoed a bill to speed up New York's notoriously slow public records process.
Despite promising greater transparency, Hochul vetoed a bill to speed up New York's notoriously slow public records process.
"Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer. That includes four who were held for weeks with their undocumented mother and without access to the family’s attorney until a congresswoman intervened."
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 16, 2025 at 6:37 PM
"Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer. That includes four who were held for weeks with their undocumented mother and without access to the family’s attorney until a congresswoman intervened."
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
Here’s the story a Latina US citizen told me about being surrounded by masked agents who demanded her papers and, when they got them, told her she “doesn’t look like” a Greeley. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...
ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: ‘It’s not fair…I’m a resident’
Under federal law, registered foreign nationals must carry proof of registration with them at all times. But prior to a second Trump administration, it was rarely enforced.
www.chicagotribune.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Here’s the story a Latina US citizen told me about being surrounded by masked agents who demanded her papers and, when they got them, told her she “doesn’t look like” a Greeley. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/i...
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
![Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.
There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.
What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.
It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lzlqyldh7nfc34pfffvd24ko/bafkreiap6asa64jdjb2vlv4c2sdritjrntsibvsv7baj6o4cgwcfgsjeny@jpeg)
October 10, 2025 at 1:23 AM
“Your life revolves around hate from every side.” Essential reading on the NY state correction officers' strike and its aftermath that clearly captures how the prison system dehumanizes both workers and incarcerated people.
A Year of Convulsions in New York’s Prisons
Jennifer Gonnerman reports on how two murders and a strike exposed a system at its breaking point.
www.newyorker.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:51 PM
“Your life revolves around hate from every side.” Essential reading on the NY state correction officers' strike and its aftermath that clearly captures how the prison system dehumanizes both workers and incarcerated people.
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
Two things felt different to the ppl I spoke with who’d been protesting at the ICE building for months.
1st was the sheer volume of tear gas, pepper balls and flash-bangs used, seemingly unprovoked.
2nd was seeing so many videographers/live-streamers embedded with the feds as they marched out.
1st was the sheer volume of tear gas, pepper balls and flash-bangs used, seemingly unprovoked.
2nd was seeing so many videographers/live-streamers embedded with the feds as they marched out.
Hours after a federal judge paused the Trump administration’s plans to deploy 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland, federal law enforcement officers escalated the tactics used on protesters in the city.
Troy and I were on the ground:
Troy and I were on the ground:
Federal tactics on protesters escalate, hours after judge rules against Trump
Hours after a federal judge paused the Trump administration’s plans to deploy 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland, federal law enforcement officers escalated the tactics used on prote...
www.opb.org
October 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Two things felt different to the ppl I spoke with who’d been protesting at the ICE building for months.
1st was the sheer volume of tear gas, pepper balls and flash-bangs used, seemingly unprovoked.
2nd was seeing so many videographers/live-streamers embedded with the feds as they marched out.
1st was the sheer volume of tear gas, pepper balls and flash-bangs used, seemingly unprovoked.
2nd was seeing so many videographers/live-streamers embedded with the feds as they marched out.
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
U.S. Border Patrol agents shot a woman this morning in Chicago. It's the second shooting since Trump’s immigration enforcement "blitz."
The news comes as IL Gov. Pritzker announces Trump intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...
The news comes as IL Gov. Pritzker announces Trump intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...
Federal agents shoot woman they say 'boxed in' authorities on Chicago's South Side
Authorities were on patrol when they were "rammed by 10 cars," according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. One of the drivers "was armed with a semi-automatic weapon," prompting...
chicago.suntimes.com
October 4, 2025 at 6:51 PM
U.S. Border Patrol agents shot a woman this morning in Chicago. It's the second shooting since Trump’s immigration enforcement "blitz."
The news comes as IL Gov. Pritzker announces Trump intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...
The news comes as IL Gov. Pritzker announces Trump intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
“the federal constitution’s suddenly fluid protections” is 🔥
The Hawaii Constitution offers safety to Hawaii’s people that exceeds the federal constitution’s suddenly fluid protections,” Hawaii Justice Todd Eddins wrote in a recent ruling, taking a shot at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hawaii Supreme Court Expands Rights of Defendants, and Once Again Rebukes SCOTUS
The justices ruled that Hawaii’s constitution requires police to record interrogations. And they vowed to protect due process for Hawaii residents—unlike, they said, the Roberts Court.
boltsmag.org
October 4, 2025 at 6:53 PM
“the federal constitution’s suddenly fluid protections” is 🔥
“Advocates are particularly concerned over the facilities’ use of Pfas gas, or f-gas, which can be potent greenhouse gases, and may mean AI datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought.”
Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from datacenters amid AI boom
Tech companies’ use of Pfas gas at facilities may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought
www.theguardian.com
October 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
“Advocates are particularly concerned over the facilities’ use of Pfas gas, or f-gas, which can be potent greenhouse gases, and may mean AI datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought.”
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
Justice Jackson's sharp dissent accuses her Republican-appointed colleagues of abusing the court's shadow docket "to allow this Administration to disrupt as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible." She also takes a dig at their refusal to write opinions explaining their actions.
October 3, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Justice Jackson's sharp dissent accuses her Republican-appointed colleagues of abusing the court's shadow docket "to allow this Administration to disrupt as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible." She also takes a dig at their refusal to write opinions explaining their actions.
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
Broadview Police have opened an investigation into an attack from federal agents on a CBS crew at Broadview, per BPD Chief Mills.
September 28, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Broadview Police have opened an investigation into an attack from federal agents on a CBS crew at Broadview, per BPD Chief Mills.
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
Microsoft will no longer allow Israel to use its cloud services to enable its mass surveillance of occupied Palestinians – "the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza"
Microsoft blocks Israel’s use of its technology in mass surveillance of Palestinians
Exclusive: Tech firm ends military unit’s access to AI and data services after Guardian reveals secret spy project
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Microsoft will no longer allow Israel to use its cloud services to enable its mass surveillance of occupied Palestinians – "the first known case of a US technology company withdrawing services provided to the Israeli military since the beginning of its war on Gaza"
"This is one valuable function of shame: it reminds us of who we want to be when we fall short, a goalpost that is necessarily anchored to the lofty height that our conduct fell beneath."
How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review
Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.
www.bostonreview.net
September 25, 2025 at 3:23 PM
"This is one valuable function of shame: it reminds us of who we want to be when we fall short, a goalpost that is necessarily anchored to the lofty height that our conduct fell beneath."
Reposted by Rebecca McCray
A crackdown on gay cruising inside the Penn Station bathroom by the federal Amtrak Police has landed one person in ICE custody. Amtrak Police, unlike the NYPD, are not bound by local sanctuary protections. www.thecity.nyc/2025/09/24/a...
New Cruising Crackdown by Feds at Penn Station
Amtrak Police turned a person arrested inside a Penn Station bathroom directly over to ICE.
www.thecity.nyc
September 24, 2025 at 3:04 PM
A crackdown on gay cruising inside the Penn Station bathroom by the federal Amtrak Police has landed one person in ICE custody. Amtrak Police, unlike the NYPD, are not bound by local sanctuary protections. www.thecity.nyc/2025/09/24/a...