Me checking Twitter each morning

Ireland is the birthplace of Halloween, a celebration tracing back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain.

Dear friends and readers of Mada, We have been silent over the past two days, in shock at what happened in court on Tuesday but also in an attempt to organize ourselves for what looks like it will be an ongoing battle.

A lesser known gem that Patrick Stewart starred in was Jeffrey. One of the first gay-themed films I watched as a teen. Stewart, a straight man, played the role of a gay man in NYC with a profound fear of acquiring AIDS so perfectly.

NEW: Pope Leo XIV is set to become the first sitting pontiff in the Catholic Church’s two-thousand-year history to vote in a secular election. Leo requested an Illinois mail ballot on Oct. 3, and it was sent to his brother John’s home in New Lenox, Ill. John Prevost visited the pope at the Vatican on Wednesday and may now be carrying the ballot back to the Will County clerk by hand. thelettersfromleo.com/p/pope…

When this conversation comes up, I always go back to this really succinct quote from Fran Lebowitz.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, asked about Nicki Minaj’s beef, says she should “get outside.” “And stop going to Trump rallies, it’s kinda poisoning your mind.”

Today is the ninth consecutive day with a weather rating of 8/10 or higher in NYC, the longest such streak since we began issuing weather ratings in 2021.

Egyptian journalist Lina Attalah detained after court orders news site's closure bbc.in/4ikFJCx

Mada Masr Editor-in-Chief Lina Attalah was fined LE3 million by the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, which convicted her on charges of managing an unlicensed website, issuing an order for the website’s closure. Attalah was taken into custody after the issue of the ruling. Tuesday’s session at the ninth circuit of the New Cairo Misdemeanor Court, presided over by judge Mohamed Mubarak, was temporarily suspended for deliberations after Attalah’s defense counsel requested time to review the case file. After the court returned from deliberations, the judge ordered the courtroom cleared of everyone except Attalah and her defense counsel, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’ executive director Hossam Bahgat, who was also present, told Mada Masr. The room then filled with plainclothes officers and guards, with a National Security Agency officer in attendance, he added. The presiding judge and a Supreme State Security Prosecution representative returned to the session and the judge announced that the court has decided to stand by its rejection of all the procedural arguments presented by the defense, including requests to bring in any documentation or hear any witnesses. The judge then asked the defense team to present its plea. The counsel insisted that it would not submit a plea as long as its requests were unanswered by the court. The judge then abruptly asked for a lawyer unknown to any member of the defense counsel to be brought in, “in a move that astonished all those present,” said Bahgat, and announced that the court decided to appoint a lawyer for Attalah. At that point, all members of the defense counsel cried out to reject the court’s appointment of a lawyer when the eight chosen lawyers were present. Attalah herself spoke to say she did not accept the court-appointed lawyer acting on her behalf, an objection the judge refused to have recorded in the session’s minutes. "In an even more shocking move,” said Bahgat, the judge himself began to log down the requests of the court-appointed lawyer, without the lawyer having said a word. The judge then read out the conviction amid shouts and protests from the defense counsel. The judge sentenced Attalah to the maximum possible penalty: a LE3 million fine, the closure of Mada Masr’s website and the confiscation of its property. Security personnel then surrounded Attalah, lifted her off the ground and took her out of the courtroom, where she remains in custody in the courthouse.

Sad development in the western Massachusetts lesbian bar story: Last Ditch is closing

this is beyond insane, here's the full episode i'm dying

I realize it may not be common knowledge that in 2008 before Glee, Lea Michele debuted her Anthony Bordain inspired travel show where she traveled from Manhattan to Queens as a “borough travel junkie” for exactly one (1) episode that has been mostly scrubbed from the internet

המוזיאון היהודי של עיראק נפתח היום לראשונה במרכז הבירה בגדאד. הוא שוכן במבנה ששימש בעבר את בית הספר היהודי "שמאש" ברחוב א-רשיד. המבנה שופץ במיוחד לצורך זה. במוזיאון מוצגים מסמכים, פרטי לבוש, ספרי קודש, תשמישי קדושה וסרטונים מחיי הקהילה במאה העשרים. ביומו הראשון של המוזיאון הגיעו אליו אלף מבקרים - רובם לא יהודים. את ההקמה והשיפוץ ביצעה הקהילה היהודית הקטנה בעיראק שהיא גם בעלת המבנה

NEW: The ACLU of Indiana is in turmoil after several of its most influential civil rights attorneys submitted their resignations in protest of the organization's direction under its board and incoming leader, multiple sources told @indystar . indystar.com/story/news/poli…

The MTA is proposing a new 125 Street Subway, which would extend west from the future 125 St/Lexington Av Q station. The project would connect existing subway lines—including the Second Avenue Subway—and bus routes along the corridor. Learn more about this project at a public scoping meeting; we're hosting two virtual sessions on October 22, and one in-person session on October 27. Register for a session and get all the details: mta.info/project/125-street-…

Today, I asked the Supreme Court to affirm that federal courts have the power to hear my case. The government knows all too well that its baseless allegations and smears against me cannot survive the slightest scrutiny in federal court. That’s why it is doing everything it can to keep those courts from looking at my case and to channel it into its kangaroo immigration courts. So the question is simple: can the government weaponize immigration laws to punish someone's speech, then tell federal courts they have no power to step in? If the answer is yes, none of our speech is safe. If the Trump administration can punish someone for pro-Palestine speech, this or any future administration can punish anyone for any speech. Read the petition: ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-…

Breaking News: Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate who was arrested by ICE agents last year amid campus protests, appealed to the Supreme Court in an attempt to prevent his deportation. nyti.ms/4saxiy1

This is your final warning to wear a warm jacket tonight! Temperatures will drop to near 40° F in the city (perhaps even a bit lower) and well into the 30s in the interior tonight. It will be cold on Sunday morning.

On the Israeli settler attack on Palestinians and a WaPo journalist during an olive harvest: nytimes.com/2026/10/16/world… One thing our reporters noted that hasn't gotten much attention: the IDF shot a man running *away*, then claimed he was running at them with a "sharp object."