Good work by @mlk50.com.

Rocky Kistner@therockyfiles.bsky.social · 4h ago

Powerful story and photos of a underserved Memphis community battling pollution: "I would love to see our city make billions of dollars, but not at the risk of safety of people in certain communities … we are all God’s children.” @photosbyworm @MLK50Memphis mlk50.com/2026/08/04/t...

"Attempting a coherent portrait of Groypers can feel a bit like trying to describe the plot of a Surrealist film, or a fantasy board game that takes place in its own universe. But they see their movement as a gathering storm about to break over American politics." --Antonia Hitchens, @newyorker.com.

How the Internet Fringe Infiltrated Republican Politics

Inside the battle for the post-MAGA G.O.P.

newyorker.com

A WIRED investigation has identified multiple members of the paramilitary units behind some of the most egregious immigration enforcement actions of the last year. from @awinston.bsky.social and @regret.bsky.social

Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown

A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history.

wired.com

“It’s clear that Nolan Wells’s unfortunate death struck a nerve with me and my Black peers who have lived and parented through the token Black experience. Some of us describe seeing some of our worst moments reflected back to us in those photos of Wells with his white friends.”

Who Will Protect Us When No One Is Looking?

Why Nolan Xavier Wells’s death has unnerved so many Black parents — including me.

thecut.com

The bomb that set off the culture wars of the 1980s and '90s detonated in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, writes Louis Menand in @newyorker.com.

How “Piss Christ” Became a Culture-War Bomb

The fight over Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, and the National Endowment for the Arts became a preview of the politics that followed.

newyorker.com

Truly extraordinary portrait of an American family and AI by my brilliant friend and former colleague Jessica Contrera. A must-read: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

When A.I. Is a Member of the Family

A single mom, her two daughters, and the chatbots that fill in the gaps.

newyorker.com

A meticulous, searing profile of the ICE officer who killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. There were numerous tipoffs in publicly available records about his mental instability and violent streak. @apnews.com @jack-brook.bsky.social HT @joshtpm.bsky.social

AP Exclusive: ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, according to c...

apnews.com

"Now there are many more Black birders looking for welcoming, safe places to enjoy birds. One such place is the Joe Farm, a Black-owned family farm in Hale County, Alabama." By Dudley Edmondson. @cornellbirds.bsky.social

A Cattle Farm in Alabama Draws Birders for a Spectacle of Kites

The Joe family farm practices a land ethic that has brought in the birds, and now a burgeoning side business that is bringing in birders to the Black Belt of Alabama.

allaboutbirds.org

We all made assumptions about this Reuters photo. Even me. Even you. It took @notus.com reporter @byelliesilverman.bsky.social to track down the story of Bernita Bowlding and her worried family, and to tell it ethically.

The Woman in the Photo Wanted to Be Alone. Instead, She Went Viral.

America saw what it wanted to see on the face of its newest icon. And everyone saw it wrong.

notus.org

"When Donald Trump first appeared in U.S. politics, Graham recognized him immediately for what he was: the spokesman for an alien ideology, one radically different from the idealistic patriotism that Graham had practiced and preached since childhood." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

The Quintessential Politician of This Era

The late South Carolina senator made a mid-career turn to MAGA.

theatlantic.com

More and more Americans are seeing politics as a spiritual battle against actual demonic forces. In Tennessee, a bookstore owner found out exactly what that could mean: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

The Demon Next Door

A growing number of charismatic Christians see themselves as waging a spiritual battle against the forces of Satan. Sometimes those forces are right across the street.

theatlantic.com

🧵 These two events represent a chilling escalation by the Trump Administration against a free press. Yesterday federal agents showed up at the homes of several @nytimes.com journalists with subpoenas them after they reported on security concerns involving the new Qatari-donated Air Force One. (1/2)

Times Journalists Subpoenaed as Trump Escalates Pressure on Media (Gift Article)

The Justice Department is seeking to compel testimony from reporters who wrote about the new Air Force One. The Times called the move a “brazen act.”

nytimes.com

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects.” By Michael M. Grynbaum.

Times Journalists Subpoenaed as Trump Escalates Pressure on Media

The Justice Department is seeking to compel testimony from reporters who wrote about the new Air Force One. The Times called the move a “brazen act.”

nytimes.com

"A clutch of people who cared about Mr. Platner worried about his mental health, amid his ongoing efforts to heal from post-traumatic stress disorder after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The worst-case scenario wasn’t running for Senate and losing—it was destroying the life he worked hard to build."

Michael Kruse@michaelkruse.bsky.social · 4w ago

Grateful to be a part of this team.

A new study in the American Journal of Public Health relies on internal corporate documents to show how the tobacco giant applied cigarette research to its development of ultra-processed foods. https://www.kqed.org/news/12086137/heres-how-philip-morris-designed-lunchables-to-hook-generations-of-kids

Forget the Reflecting Pool. US Park Police say organized crime is operating on the National Mall, and no one's talking about it. My deep-dive into the pirate food trucks wreaking havoc around America's Front Lawn. washingtonian.com/2026/06/29/d...

Inside the Food Truck Mafia Wreaking Havoc Around the National Mall

Turf wars. Food and fire hazards. $15 ice-cream cones. How an organized network of unlicensed food trucks took over America's Front Lawn.

washingtonian.com

🧵

T. Christian Miller@tchristianmiller.bsky.social · last mo.

Alice Sebold, the Lovely Bones author, accused the wrong man of rape years ago. @propublica.org asks the question: so who did it? The answer is an amazing work of journalism, truly stunning in the writing and reporting. Put aside some time. It's a must read must read. By Joaquin Sapien.

"The music started. Yehor stayed still. Then he lifted his right palm into the empty space before him. For the next three minutes, he needed to pretend that his date, Masha, was still there." @siobhanogrady.bsky.social and Liubov Sholudko report from Kyiv. H/T @thesundaylongread.bsky.social.

The Prom Went On in Kyiv, but Masha’s Date Danced Alone

nytimes.com

This photo, taken today by @reuters.com photographer Cheney Orr. The caption: A commuter sits as members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence on the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 4, 2026.

Licensable picture: Fourth of July celebrations, in Washington

A commuter sits as members of the group Patriot Front ride the metro on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence on the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C.,...

reutersconnect.com

July 4 marks a year since the Central Texas floods that killed at least 135 people in the Hill Country, including 28 at the all-girls' Camp Mystic. I knew about the flood, of course. But I didn't really FEEL it until I read Sean Flynn's new article in @theatlantic.com. Photos by Tamir Kalifa.

The 10,000-Year Flood

The banks of the Guadalupe River were an idyllic spot to park an RV. Then, last summer, it started to rain harder and faster than anyone could imagine.

theatlantic.com

Happy Independence Day.

The Poynter Institute@poynterinstitute.bsky.social · last mo.

Newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises will see strikingly similar front pages this weekend, according to an email sent to the company’s properties, telling them all to run a positive three-story package on their new billionaire chairman David Hoffmann. www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...

Enbridge wants to build a natural-gas pipeline through Chatham Co., NC. It says residents have nothing to fear. But in Tennessee, Enbridge damaged wetlands and streams, and prematurely built a bridge in a sensitive aquatic habitat, prompting the feds to issue a stop-work order. @lisasorg.bsky.social

A Pipeline Company Says It Will Protect the Environment in North Carolina. Its Record in Tennessee Says Otherwise. - Inside Climate News

Damaged wetlands and streams, spills of drilling mud and a federal stop-work order have plagued the Ridgeline Expansion Project in Tennessee.

insideclimatenews.org

In Cary, N.C., an #LGBTQ organizer suffered a black eye at a Pride event after a man shouting homophobic slurs allegedly struck her with a flagpole. But the man can't be charged with a hate crime, because the state's law does not cover sexual orientation. By Faith Wardell. #ncpol @newsobserver.com

Cary LGBTQ+ organizer injured in alleged Pride assault. Why she wants tougher charges

The Pride Market showcased dozens of local vendors with hundreds of locals shopping and celebrating Pride. But the festivities took a turn just after 6 p.m.

newsobserver.com

Started reading this late last night thinking I probably wouldn't finish and then couldn't stop.

The Paperboy’s Secret

In boyhood, guilt was a constant companion. I stopped mentioning the quarters that Mr. Wood put into my pocket.

newyorker.com

#ncpol

Akbar Shahid Ahmed@akbarshahidahmed.bsky.social · last mo.

Pete Hegseth has "just had so many misstarts," retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis tells @notus.com — saying he regrets casting the deciding vote that has allowed Hegseth to reshape the Pentagon & drive widely criticized policies from the boat strikes to the Iran war. www.notus.org/senate/thom-...

"Daniel Sanchez-Estrada was not at the protest, but was convicted of corruptly concealing a document or record after prosecutors said he moved leftwing zines and other materials at the request of his wife after she was arrested. Sanchez-Estrada was sentenced to 30 years." @samrlevine.bsky.social

Texas anti-ICE protesters convicted of terrorism charges sentenced to at least 50 years in prison

Activists accused of being part of antifa get long prison terms in case seen as test of Trump’s crackdown on dissent

theguardian.com

I'm really enjoying "The News," Season 8 of @sceneonradio.bsky.social. Hosted by John Biewen and @chenjerai.bsky.social, it examines the growth of news deserts, challenges our assumptions about media bias, and looks at alternatives to the dominant profit-driven model that dominates the US press.

The News

Welcome to Season 8: The News. This 8-part series will explore the deep challenges facing American journalism, and the nation’s news and information crisis. It seems everyone’s mad at th

sceneonradio.org

The 1 million U.S. households who live in Greystar apartments don’t just pay rent. They pay “boiler management fees,” “variable refrigerant flow fees,” “solar rebill” fees, “lifestyle fees,” and even fees for genetically testing dog poop. @tmmcmillan.bsky.social investigates. @theguardian.com

‘Extremely overwhelmed’: apartment renters face rising tide of fees

Guardian investigation: Renters at apartment buildings operated by industry giant Greystar complain they’re deluged by ‘unfair’ and ‘inflated’ fees. The company denies these claims

theguardian.com

Cornell Watson Jr.'s photographs of Scranton, North Carolina are both elegant and a jolt to the conscience. The historically Black coastal community sits on the front lines of the climate crisis. From @time.com. Text: Simmone Shah.

Rising Sea Levels Are Already Remaking Reality in This North Carolina Community

Photographer Cornell Watson documented life in the historically Black town of Scranton, N.C., as the tides keep getting higher.

time.com

Journalist @lisasorg.bsky.social, who covers North Carolina for @insideclimatenews.org, talks with Down from DC's Phoebe Zerwick: "It’s been a very dry hot summer, and you have to wonder where the water’s going to come from. Especially if you have data centers [trying] to cool all those computers."

Fossil fuels and forever chemicals are so back

Reporter Lisa Sorg connects the dots on some environmental regulation rollbacks that will impact North Carolinians.

downfromdc.substack.com