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The Lever’s daily email newsletter.🔥 Today’s Lever story: A frank discussion about Israel’s mass violence — and why linguistic choices matter.
👇 Spend three minutes reading this 959-word newsletter to learn about:
- How FDA layoffs could poison your pills.
- Which Republican state is dropping out and tuning in.
- The danger in your breakfast cereal.
- The next stage of the corporate puppetmasters’ master plan.
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TODAY'S NUGGETS
🧪 Contaminated layoffs. Pharmaceutical drugs could soon get more dangerous, thanks to the layoffs of 3,500 Food and Drug Administration staff. Despite promises to preserve the FDA’s safety-related workforce, including inspectors who monitor overseas factories for quality control issues like dirty equipment, contaminated supplies, and fraudulent testing records, the support staff that’s charged with assisting those inspectors has been gutted. Dozens of people who help coordinate travel for complex inspections, from specialized visa arrangements to travel and appointments across more than 90 countries, have been let go, according to ProPublica.
🛑 ICE data plot blocked — for now. A judge has blocked Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) from forcing state employees to turn over data on residents sponsoring undocumented children to Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his administration was called out in a whistleblower lawsuit first reported on by The Lever. According to the judge, Polis’ attempts to force state workers to turn over Coloradans’ sensitive information violate state privacy rules that Polis himself recently signed into law — although the court noted the governor could still find other ways to comply with ICE.
