What a nice story. Let's do it again.

"The funniest possible outcome of the AI mandate era is about to be HR departments discovering that 'sincerely held religious belief' under Title VII has a much lower bar than they assumed, and Pope Leo handed every Catholic employee a written excuse," wrote Corey Quinn, a software-startup founder in San Francisco, on X.

Employers could wind up in court if they outright dismiss workers who request a faith-based exemption from using AI, said Ashley Herd, a former McKinsey counsel and head of North American HR who now advises managers and employers on workplace issues.

What you should know

Mamdani administration has secured more than $8.5M in restitution since taking office 

[Note: To be clear, that's just between January 2026 and March 2026.]

...over YouTube Live while eating a Crunchwrap Supreme, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced the filing of an enforcement petition against QSR Management LLC, a Dunkin’ franchisee that operates locations in Staten Island, seeking monetary relief for workers and civil penalties. The petition alleges that QSR Management LLC and managing corporate officer Ronny Nader violated the rights of approximately 1,000 workers under the Fair Workweek Law and Protected Time Off Law. The Mamdani Administration also announced settlements with two companies that will provide more than 830 workers with more than $1.8 million to resolve violations of the Fair Workweek Law. In addition to restitution, Dunkin’ & Taco Bell franchisee Salz Management LLC and premium fashion retailer Theory will pay more than $176,000 in civil penalties and costs... “Today’s settlements are about more than financial compensation for working New Yorkers —though that relief matters. At their core, these actions are about restoring dignity on the job. Every worker deserves a predictable schedule — something stable enough to plan a life around, to care for family, to show up for the people who depend on them,” said Mayor Mamdani. “This city will not tolerate any corporation or franchisee that violates our Fair Workweek laws, or any of the labor protections that workers fought for and won. We will keep enforcing those laws, so that every New Yorker knows their rights and can count on this city to defend them.” ... The Mamdani Administration is urging all workers who believe their rights have been violated to file a complaint by visiting nyc.gov/workers or by calling 311. Since Jan. 1, 2026, the Administration has secured more than $8.5 million in restitution for New York City workers, including more than $500,000 for freelancers ripped off by production company Splashlight and nearly $5 million for Uber Eats, Fantuan and HungryPanda delivery workers.

-via The Official Website of the City of New York, March 24, 2026

--

Your rights in Mamdani's New York City under the cut

Take a moment and ask yourself, a project like this requires a lot of time, money and dedication of resources, why would scientists dedicate that time to something that could just be done by a tree?

The answer is they wouldn't. So that means this claim requires further investigation!

This project is called LIQUID 3, and it's not meant for cities with wide open spaces, it's meant for cities like Belgrade in Serbia. These cities are densely populated and heavily polluted, to the point where pollution actually chokes out current trees and makes creating green spaces difficult.

Liquid 3 was a PhD scientists answer to these problems. The microalgae tank is intended for spaces where you either:

Don't have enough space to plant full trees, or

Don't have enough time to plant trees and wait for them to grow up.

The tank is extremely efficient when you consider the amount of space needed compared to the amount of CO2 turned into oxygen. The tank can operate throughout the winter. And most importantly, it can be quickly set up in areas that desperately need relief from air pollution NOW not in 10 years when trees are done growing. Children currently suffocating on polluted air can't wait for trees to grow, they need to be taken care of now, and Liquid 3 is one of the ways to take care of them. Depending on the species of microalgea used, a number have shown a pretty amazing capacity to pull heavy metals out of the air which is something trees can get choked up by.

The tanks aren't just tanks either! Liquid 3 have solar panels placed on top, they have lighting and mobile phone charging, and they work as public benches. The designers of it want to encourage green spaces where there's room, but where there isn't room or time, Liquid 3 can step in. Realistically, this isn't a replacement for trees. It's replacing boring metal city benches with new, cooler benches that also clean the air (and have at least some heating during the winter).

Not only that, but the microalgea that grows is native to Serbia and all that microalgea has a ton of great uses! It makes for great fertilizer, compost, wastewater treatment, cleaner biofuels and even for helping create new tanks for further air purification. They only require a quick algae divide once a month, and the produced algae can be carted off to where ever it's needed. This makes them effective solutions for areas that can't sustain complex installations.

but you should also still support the met union because 91% of hourly Met staff in the union earn less than a living wage, and 27% of salaried Met staff earn less than a living wage.

museums cost a lot of money to run and rely on private donations as public funding is often limited. just because the met gala only raises funds for a specific collection doesn't mean it's inherently bad. it's not just a rich people's party. and anyway, rich people should be giving their money to stuff like the preservation of the arts.

2026 - Make the Republicans hurt for all the ways they're trying to strip people of their votes and put a check on Trump. We can flip the House and maybe even the Senate and actually put some of the checks the Constitution intended back in place. SCOTUS is still fucked and not a lot will get passed over Trump's veto, but we can stop the bleeding.

2028 - Get Trump, Vance, and all the fascists out of the Executive Branch. It's also the only way to start on SCOTUS reform and getting back on the right track. This is also the president who will be overseeing the next census that controls which states get how many Congresspeople.