Eric Umansky
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ericumansky.bsky.social
Eric Umansky
@ericumansky.bsky.social
20K followers 740 following 920 posts
Editor-at-Large @ProPublica. I ❤️ evidence-based journalism, and good trouble. Tips/ideas: [email protected] and securely on Signal EricUmansky.04.

More about me: https://www.propublica.org/people/eric-umansky
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ericumansky.bsky.social
Quite a defense.
A spokesperson for Summers said that the woman described in the exchanges was never Summers' student, but declined to comment further for this articles
November 17, 2025 at 1:27 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
If you’re gonna be a politician, perhaps best to not leave freezer full of pet carcasses when you sell your store.

Also, feces and urine.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
Julia Baran, the new owner of the Animal Connection, said in an interview on Friday that nobody from the Lurie administration called her or visited the pet store during their vetting process. It they had, she gala, they would have learned that Ms. Alcaraz left behind a freezer stuffed with pet corpses. Furthermore, she said, the store was covered in urine and feces and short on inventory. "I'm very familiar with the smell of death now," she said.
November 15, 2025 at 8:16 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
This comparison is a shonda.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
Mr. Carlson explained his nonconfrontational approach to lor Fuentes in part by saying that he viewed himself as more of an oral historian in the manner of Studs Terkel than an interrogator. Acknowleuging that he had not prepared much before interviewing Mr. Fuentes, he said, "Honestly, I was guilty of the same thing I criticize others for, which is judging him by a few three-minute clips I saw."
November 15, 2025 at 6:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Tucker Carlson’s paid subscribers *grew* after his Fuentes interview.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
If anything, Mr. Carlson's interview with Mr. Fuentes may have increased his visibility, or, at least, it did not hurt it. According to the YouTube monitoring website VidIQ.com, his show had 1.46 million paid subscribers the week before the interview. The week after, his subscribers totaled 1.5 million.
November 15, 2025 at 6:47 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Memes please.
November 15, 2025 at 5:10 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
So there's a secret White House legal memo that blesses Trump's extrajudicial killings.

"The memo compares military personnel participating in the strikes to the police who break the speed limits when pursuing a suspect who poses a threat to public safety."

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...
Citing a need to protect society from dangerous narco-terrorist cartels, the memo compares military personnel participating in the strikes to the police who break the speed limits when pursuing a suspect who poses a threat to public safety. Those officers are not considered to have committed a crime.
November 14, 2025 at 3:44 AM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Quite the contrast.

nytimes.com homepage
November 8, 2025 at 7:50 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
So immigration agents drove off in a citizen’s car with a toddler in the back.

**Then DHS refused to answer questions about it.**

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
Ms. McLaughlin did not respond to questions about the agents driving away in Mr. Quiñonez's car with the child inside. Nor did she respond to questions about how the child was cared for while she was in the custody of federal agents, including where she was kept and whether she was fed, given water or had her diaper changed.
November 8, 2025 at 2:14 AM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Eric Adams everyone.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
November 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
DHS stopped automatically archiving officials’ text messages.

Now to save messages — as law requires— officials gotta…

-take a screenshot.
-send it to their work computer
-run the file through a program there
-repeat

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
The policy expects officials to first take screenshots of the text messages on their work phones, send it to their work email, download it on their work computers and then run a program that would recognize the text to store it in searchable formats,
November 7, 2025 at 12:32 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
That daycare teacher who agents snatched yesterday?

She also has two young kids, and according to a GoFundMe, they now are left without a caregiver.

www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with...
She was living and working legally in the United States and is the mother of two young children, who are now left without a caregiver. Our hearts break for her family, and we stand united in demanding her immediate release.
November 6, 2025 at 12:43 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
So, Rubio and Stephen Miller are pushing Trump to go all in on Regime Change in Venezuela.

The only one holding them back at the moment: Trump.

He apparently wants to make sure the U.S. gets a cut of Venezuela's oil.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/u...
The support for the more aggressive options is coming from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the acting national security adviser, and Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser. According to several U.S. officials, they have privately said they believe Mr. Maduro should be forced out. Mr. Trump has repeatedly expressed reservations, aides say, in part because of a fear that the operation could fail. Mr. Trump is in no rush to make a decision, and has repeatedly asked about what the United States could get in return, with a specific focus on extracting some of the value of Venezuela’s oil for the United States.
November 6, 2025 at 12:28 AM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Tucker going full Goebbels.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/u...
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, has long blamed Mr. Carlson for the cratering of political support for Ukraine within the Republican Party. Mr. Carlson in the past described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, as “sweaty and rat-like”; “shifty”; “dead-eyed”; a “persecutor of Christians”; and a “friend of BlackRock,” the investment company.
November 4, 2025 at 11:03 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Jeff Bezos’ wealth grew by $24 billion *yesterday.*

Meanwhile, the VA now is asking for donations so veterans can *eat.*

www.va.gov/northern-ind...
November 1, 2025 at 8:06 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
And **if you have information to share** about the VA, please contact me. on Signal, Ericumansky.04, or via email, [email protected].

signal.me#eu/XJgAapwmf...
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Here is the memo that lays all this out.

The VA hasn’t released it.
Department of Veterans Affairs Date: June 15, 2025 Memorandum From: Acting Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits Performing the Delegable Duties of the Under Secretary for Benefits (20) Suti Ter Amend Presumption for Male Breast Cancer (VIEWS 13179786) Secretary (00) 1. The purpose of this memorandum is to present a recommendation and obtain the Secretary's decision to amend the presumption for male breast cancer. To comply with executive orders, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is reassessing its current consideration of male breast cancer as a reproductive cancer. 2. Section 406 of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022 established reproductive cancer of any type" as a category of diseases presumed to be associated with exposure to burn pits and other toxins. When implemented, VA interpreted reproductive cancers to include only female breast cancer. 3. In February 2023, VA leadership questioned the equity of that initial interpretation. The Office of General Counsel guidance stated that the phrase "reproductive cancer" was not defined, and the statute's language was arguably ambiguous. This ambiguity allowed for VA to interpret the term as including both female and male breast cancer. On March 7, 2023, Veterans Health Administration's Executive Director of Oncology provided an assessment noting likenesses between the disease in both sexes. The rationale highlighted similar mutational signatures in male and female breast cancers, supporting VA policy regarding breast cancer for Veterans of both sexes based on shared etiologic factors. On April 28, 2023, the VA Operations Board approved a decision to include male breast cancer as a presumptive cancer under the PACT Act authority for reproductive cancers of any type despite concerns raised at that time by Veterans Benefits Administration leadership. As a result, in June 2024, VA updated the sub-regulatory policy letter which inter… 6. Recommended course of action: Remove male breast cancer as a reproductive cancer from policy guidance and the final rule of AR75. Amend VBA Letter 20-24-06 to remove male breast cancer from the list of reproductive cancers because there is no statute or regulation requiring inclusion. The amended policy letter will specifically address benefits that were awarded under historical policies and specify that this change will not result in severing service connection for disabilities. This course of action supports alignment with Executive Order 14168. JUANA DEVLIN Digitafly signedby JUANA DEVLIN Date: 2025.06. 15 22:04:00 -0400 J. Margarita Devlin Acting Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits Performing the Delegable Duties of the Under Secretary for Benefits Attachments peroe/Disapprove (Circle one.) Colins 8-30・z5 Date
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
I also spoke to male vets who have breast cancer.

This is Kirby Lewis. He's stage 4.

Kirby already has his care covered. Those newly diagnosed will face a higher bar.

“There’s this machinismo aspect that they don’t want to accept that we have breasts, but we do," Kirby told me.
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
It's worth noting, I spoke to experts, including a recently former VA oncologist who treats breast cancer.

They said, basically, this is poppycock.
“Cancer in male veterans should be covered,” said Dr. Anita Aggarwal, a VA oncologist who researched and treated breast cancer for years before retiring recently. “These people have put their lives at risk for us.” As Aggarwal noted, breast tissue in men and women are similar. “Male breasts don’t produce milk,” Aggarwal said. “But the treatment is the same.” She added that research has linked breast cancer to toxic exposure.
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
I contacted the VA about all this.

They confirmed the rollback and said it started a month ago.

They also confirmed they did it b/c the "Biden Administration falsely classified male breasts as reproductive organs.”
The Trump administration’s memo argues that designation is a mistake. “The Biden Administration falsely classified male breasts as reproductive organs,” Kasperowicz said in his statement to ProPublica.
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
This memo was a high-level thing.

It ends with the signature of VA Secretary Doug Collins, dated Sept. 30, the day before the shutdown.
Signature of VA Sec Doug Collins
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
And the memo says that classifying breast cancer among men as a "reproductive cancer," violates... a presidential order.

That order: “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

Yes, it’s real: www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Excerpt from VA memo. It includes the text: Executive Order 14168, dated January 20, 2025, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, may dispute classifying male breast cancer as reproductive. Specifically, the executive order directs agencies to enforce policies based on this binary definition, including the removal of gender identity considerations from Federal forms and documents. The executive order does not specifically address medical classifications, or the terminology used in cancer diagnoses. Its focus is on defining and enforcing policies related to sex and gender identity within Federal agencies. While the executive order does not directly conflict with the medical classification of male breast cancer as a reproductive cancer, its broader implications could influence how gender-related health issues are addressed within Federal polices and programs.
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Why would the Trump admin roll back coverage of breast cancer for male vets?

Well, the admin blames Biden.

The memo says that when Biden expanded coverage for vets, his admin wrongly categorized breast cancer among men as a “reproductive cancer."
Excerpt of VA memo reads: "There is limited scientific or medical evidence to justify classifying male breast cancer as a reproductive cancer. Medical literature typically defines reproductive cancers as originating in organs directly involved in reproduction."
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
One night recently, I got a Signal message

Would I be interested in seeing an internal Trump admin memo?

I said yes (duh). Then, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at.

The memo shows how the VA is making access to health coverage header for just one group:

Male vets w/ breast cancer….
Excerpt of a Department of Veterans Affairs Memorandum dated June 15, 2025. It's addressed to the Acting Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits, and the subject is "Amend Presumption for Male Breast Cancer."
November 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
God bless June Lockhart.

variety.com/2025/film/ne...
October 31, 2025 at 5:01 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
So Cuomo had a...consulting business that raked in $5 million last year.

Among his clients: an offshore cryptocurrency exchange that later pled guilty to violating money laundering laws.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/n...
October 29, 2025 at 11:16 PM