NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro

The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation

Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.

propublica.org

Tracking the spread of bird flu using genetic markers, satellite imagery, property records, and more reminds me of John Snow’s Cholera investigation/map. Howe’s Hens is the modern day Broad Street Pump. Amazing work from @natlash.bsky.social & @chrisalcantara.com. www.propublica.org/article/meth...

ICIJ's #CoinLaundry investigation explored the murky world of crypto-to-cash services, which have surged in major cities and allow people to cash out huge sums of cryptocurrency without touching the mainstream banking system or its safeguards.

From Dubai to Toronto, inside the crypto-to-cash storefronts fueling money laundering’s new frontier

These shadowy operations have made it easier than ever to move dirty money around the world. One man is on a mission to expose them.

buff.ly

I wrote this piece about 7th anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's murder. On the costs of speaking the truth in today's world. And how Jamal's memory still stalks Saudi Arabia--- and the Washington Post. open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...

Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post, and the Cost of Speaking Out

As Saudi Arabia hosts comedians and courts gamers, the silenced voice of Jamal Khashoggi still echoes.

open.substack.com

💫 NEW! Passports can help unlock secret ownership of offshore companies, but finding them is often challenging. At @icij.org, they decided to build a new detection tool to speed up this process: https://twp.ai/9PSqrP

gijn.org

Passports Are Key to Uncovering Offshore Secrecy — We Use Machine Learning to Find Them Efficiently

twp.ai

this would be the kind of scandal that demands resignation if these people had any commitment to public service!

Murshed Zaheed@murshedz.bsky.social · last yr.

WTH man? Real World bro also serving as Transportation Sec Sean Duffy reportedly changed his wife's flight to avoid Newark and then went on TV to broadcast it's safe to fly in and out of Newark. @paleofuture.bsky.social w the details. ↘️

The projects submitted to the Sigma Awards help us compile the best data journalism from around the world, so we’d like to thank all participants for taking part! ⬇️ Below is the Sigma Awards 2025 shortlist, separated into two submission categories: https://twp.ai/9PSiiI

gijn.org

Announcing the Sigma Awards 2025 Shortlist

twp.ai

They’re geniuses, I tell you.

Politico@politico.com · last yr.

A growing number of the nation’s top tech firms have hired remote IT workers, only to discover that the employees were actually North Korean cyber operatives. According to experts, the plot tends to follow a similar playbook 👇

in addition to him repeating insane racist conspiracy theories, it occurs to me that the reason he has time to hold long press conferences everyday is that he doesn’t actually do anything

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.

REPORTER: Why are you creating an expedited path into the country for Afrikaners but not others? TRUMP: Because they're being killed. And we don't want to see people be killed ... it's a genocide that's taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white.

Avelo Airlines has agreed to run deportation flights for the Trump administration. Commercial carriers typically avoid such work to keep away from politics, but the company's CEO said the money from ICE flights is too good to pass up.

Avelo Airlines Faces Backlash for Aiding Trump’s Deportation Campaign

nytimes.com

The IRS has a long history of keeping tax information confidential. But a new data-sharing agreement with ICE breaks that precedence and betrays the trust of immigrant communities in ways that could bear consequences for decades.

IRS-ICE Immigrant Data Sharing Agreement Betrays Data Privacy and Taxpayers’ Trust

Weaponizing government data vital to the functioning and funding of public goods and services by repurposing it for law enforcement and surveillance is an affront to a democratic society. In addition ...

eff.org

Why are there more restrictions on accessing Medicaid than there are on inheriting a billion dollars

Some sad confirmation from @bcgl.bsky.social while I was at UW last week—the National Digital Newspaper Program—which builds Chronicling America—has been shut down Historical newspapers are probably the archival material most used by the general public—for genealogy, local history—it’s such a loss

About this Collection | Chronicling America | Digital Collections | Library of Congress

Search America's Historic Newspaper Pages through 1963 Please Note: The Library of Congress has transitioned the longstanding Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers website to this new digi...

loc.gov

"This is a major victory for farm workers in NY. The workers who make A&J Kirby Farms possible have waited a long time for this moment. We urge A&J Kirby to respect their workers’ wishes and NY State law & implement this contract as swiftly as possible." ufw.org/kirby_contra...

This is bonkers: Scammers have been stealing the identities of Texas death row inmates, sometimes starting businesses or renting apartments. In 2023, someone started a landscaping biz in the name of Ronald Haskell, who was sentenced to death for killing 6 people. www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

A ripe target for identity thieves: Prisoners on death row

Death Row inmates are unlikely to receive communications that would alert them to identity theft.

nbcnews.com

If Christians in America were truly honest with ourselves, we would admit that far too many churches have become places where people are made to be disciples of the Religious Right rather than followers of Jesus and then we would collectively repent from this harmful allegiance.

IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT DO YOURSELF A FAVOR!

PREDICTION: The jet from Qatar thing won’t happen and is a distraction from the China “deal,” which will turn out to be not a deal.

as someone who lives nextdoor to both supportive housing and public housing, i need people to understand that the best locations for both are going to be the central neighborhoods in a metropolitan area, where there is easy and reliable access to services and jobs.

Mom & minor daughters are citizens who just moved from MD to Oklahoma. This statement from the Mom should be read, absorbed & circulated. ICE cannot be allowed to terrorize vulnerable families. @housedemocrats.bsky.social @ericswalwell.bsky.social kfor.com/news/local/w...

“The law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service has quietly begun cooperating with federal immigration officials to locate people suspected of being in the country illegally”

USPS law enforcement assists Trump ‘mass deportation’ effort, sources and records show

The Postal Inspection Service recently joined a federal task force to locate undocumented immigrants using data from mail and packages, according to people familiar with the effort and records obtaine...

washingtonpost.com

Shit. The UK -Rwanda trafficking arrangement has come to America.

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social · last yr.

“Rwanda's primary motivation for accepting Mr. Amen and subsequent Third Country Nationals is to improve U.S. relations and show it can advance the America First agenda.”

In a world full of Target and Walmart, be a Marriott and a Costco.

Marriott’s CEO spoke out about DEI

The next day, he had 40,000 emails from his associates.

fortune.com

A little over 100 high school students rallied at Portland City Hall, calling attention more aggressive climate policy on federal, state and local level

Earth Day inspires youth rally at Portland City Hall: ‘We are the ones’ to lead, organizer says

A little over 100 high school students rallied at Portland City Hall, calling attention more aggressive climate policy on federal, state and local level

oregonlive.com

i wrote about losing my words, and how reading (and reading) about polar exploration helped me get them back, for @flaminghydra.com: flaminghydra.com/issue-304/#a...

Cold and empty

Talia Lavin on finding the words; Carrie Frye talks The Awl: The Book

flaminghydra.com

@chrislhayes.bsky.social: "The United States government quite literally disappeared these people. It won't say where they are. We don't know. Their families do not know where they are. And they have essentially no recourse in U.S. courts because there are no records of their whereabouts."

The Trump admin’s proposed State Department reorg is a realignment of diplomatic priorities that seems set to constrain U.S. soft power & reduce institutional capacity in key areas. Dani Shulkin, @tessbridgeman.bsky.social & @andrewpmiller.bsky.social unpack the proposal & its likely consequences:

What Just Happened: Trump Admin’s State Dept Reorganization

If implemented, Rubio's State Department reorganization will reflect a significant shift in how the United States engages with the world.

justsecurity.org

So basically our core biomedical agenda has gone from cancer and heart disease research with major investments in alzheimers/dementia research to jacking up the sperm count of teenage males and a new wild goose for the 'hidden causes' of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Artist Ruth Asawa was among the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II. Critic Sharon Mizota visits the artist's retrospective at SFMOMA with her mother, who was also incarcerated during the war. Read her review in KCRW's Art Insider: email.kcrw.com/ruth-asawas-...