Esther Kaplan
@estherbrooklyn.bsky.social
Journo. Oaklandside & Cityside, formerly Business Insider, Reveal, Type Investigations, The Nation.
Honestly, this perfectly encapsulates the administration’s level of awareness about the continent. Thanks to @emilybass.bsky.social “State Department Map Mislabels African Countries at AIDS Conference” www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...
State Department Map Mislabels African Countries at AIDS Conference
Nigeria, a coastal country in western Africa, was landlocked in the Sahara, among other errors. The department said it had been “hastily altered.”
nytimes.com
I just have to say, as an Oakland public school parent, how much Stephen and Ayesha Curry deserve this award and how deeply their presence is felt in the district. youtu.be/v8n0X2JFK-s
Steph Curry receives Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award
YouTube video by ESPN
youtu.be
Truly horrifying. How smart of AP to go looking for family court records.
Josh Marshall@joshtpm.bsky.social · 3w agoThis AP investigation into David Brouillette, the ICE agent who shot Durán Guerrero in Maine is genuinely horrifying. Long history of extreme mental illness, chronic violence agst spouses and kids, PTSD and heightened violence from mil service. apnews.com/article/ice-...
This is a fun one if you need a timeline cleanse. From the great @chroniclesofazu.bsky.social and @sbmaneyphoto.bsky.social oaklandside.org/2026/07/16/c...
16 hours in an Oakland dive bar
Very few Oakland establishments open before noon. Club 2101 in Dimond is one of them. For patrons, it’s a second home.
oaklandside.org
"Activities such as speeding, walking a dog not on a leash, or fishing without a valid license may now serve as the basis for the government filing a civil denaturalization complaint in federal courts." From new TRAC report on rising denaturalizations. tracreports.org/reports/774/
Our industry is in an existential crisis
Oliver Darcy@oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 2mo agoAn NBCU executive astonished and angered staff on Wednesday when he appeared to justify Comcast's donation to Donald Trump's ballroom as the cost of doing business, @nataliekorach.bsky.social scoops. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/comcast-ba...
“Marketers chose the ‘thwack’ slogan after consulting an AI tool for suggestions, Shinsegae Group said” — a highly insensitive AI-induced political bungle that has so far cost Starbucks at least $1.4 million. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Starbucks Korea to temporarily shut all stores for history lesson after bungled coffee promotion
The closures, so employees can watch a recorded lecture, will cost the company an estimated 2.1bn won ($1.4m) in sales
theguardian.com
EXCLUSIVE: Top Pentagon Official Admits Boat Strike May Have Killed Victims of Human Trafficking If this boat was running drugs, why was it loaded with so many people? theintercept.com/2026/06/10/t...
Top Pentagon Official Admits Boat Strike May Have Killed Victims of Human Trafficking
If this boat was running drugs, why was it loaded with so many people?
theintercept.com
Many more such votes to come, I suspect. www.latimes.com/environment/...
In a first for the country, voters in Monterey Park ban data centers
Residents of Monterey Park voted overwhelmingly to ban data centers, making the San Gabriel Valley city the first in the nation to do so by public vote.
latimes.com
defector.com/punk-ass-los... The Defector, ladies and gentlemen: "Unremarkable dweeb Nick Bilton has been the executive producer of 60 Minutes for less than a week, and he has already written his name into the history books as one of the media industry's most pathetic bosses."
Punk-Ass Loser Nick Bilton Fires Scott Pelley For Daring To Ask Him Questions | Defector
Unremarkable dweeb Nick Bilton has been the executive producer of 60 Minutes for less than a week, and he has already written his name into the history books as one of the media industry’s most pathet...
defector.com
We lend our voices to the 150 detainees, including hunger strikers at the Adelanto processing center and read their letter in the “Petition of Writ” that we received from @chu.house.gov. Here are their words. (2 parts) PART 1
Campos: While I want to thank CBS news for funding this generous gift towards my education, I want to acknowledge how the recent direction of the outlet stains the legacy of Mike Wallace, the namesake of this scholarship.
Honestly I think we’re well past the point when we can successfully take this all in
Frank Figliuzzi@frankfigliuzzi.bsky.social · 2mo agoWhile we slept the DOJ deleted all press releases about charges against January 6 defendants: www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
BREAKING: The judge in the $1.7B slush fund suit has dismissed the case, but she says THERE IS NO SETTLEMENT OF RECORD. As I said earlier, the media must stop reporting that this slush fund is a settlement. It's just plain THEFT. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
AI is smart enough, I guess, but have you ever tried putting a small seed in some soil, adding water, and then a few days later it somehow becomes a seedling?
@natalieorenstein.bsky.social and Eli Wolfe got their hands on these text messages and have been reporting them out for a few days. Now Oaklandʻs top-ranking official after the mayor has resigned. oaklandside.org/2026/05/17/j...
City Administrator resigns after crass texts about female employees
Mayor Barbara Lee announced Sunday that Jestin Johnson is stepping down after three years.
oaklandside.org
This is a harrowing read, and so much more comprehensively documented than the NYT’s multi-bylined Dec. 2023 story about sexual assault by Hamas. Why are we reading this one on the opinion pages? www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...
Opinion | The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians
nytimes.com
“What we’ve seen in the last year is the military repeatedly carrying out illegal orders. The attacks on the alleged drug boats in the Pacific, the raid to seize Maduro in Venezuela, the war on Iran, have all been illegal – yet the military carried them all out.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
It’s World Press Freedom Day this Sunday. Traditionally, that’s when we call out foreign regimes for targeting journalists. But this year, the call is coming from inside our own (White) house instead.
This World Press Freedom Day, American journalists are under attack
The U.S. government has declared open season on the news media. May 3 is a reminder to fight back
freedom.press
This is the first really thoughtful exploration of Cole Allen I’ve read. Thanks for this @kenklippenstein.bsky.social
Ken Klippenstein@kenklippenstein.bsky.social · 3mo agoTo figure out why Cole Allen did what he did, I obtained a copy of his resume and talked to his former friends. The portrait that emerges is unlike what the White House is saying: www.kenklippenstein.com/p/assassin-w...
I’m sorry, McClatchy is slapping human bylines onto machine content? That’s not only a betrayal of their reporters. It’s a betrayal of their readers
Ariane Lange@arianelange.bsky.social · 4mo agoUnionized journalists at the Sacramento Bee stand united against McClatchy’s latest AI “articles” initiative. We have withheld our bylines from these stories because we do not want the public to think this is being done in our name — it’s not. We think it’s disgusting.
I’m struggling to understand the theory of the case. Everyone knew SPLC used infiltrators to expose extremists. This was arguably why their research had so much credibility — including in the eyes of their sometime law enforcement partners, the FBI. Impossible donors were unaware.
The Associated Press@apnews.com · 4mo agoBREAKING: The Southern Poverty Law Center says it faces investigation by Justice Department over past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups.
Huge bomb just went off in CA gov race (sorry the @sfchronicle.com doesn’t seem to have gift link so far as I can find, but they’ve clearly been reporting this out for a long time) www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
So some things are still jaw dropping.
Alex Ip 葉清霖@alexip718.com · 4mo agoAn update: in February 2026, *every single one* of the 1,507 refugees admitted in the United States were white South Africans: In FY 2026, the U.S. has admitted a total of 3,155 white South Africans, three Afghans, and nobody else. www.rpc.state.gov/documents/Re...
The College Board has pushed AP expansion for decades, making APs standard on college apps. But the program is riven with racial bias. In Oakland, the racial disparities are so stark, many schools are turning to a college prep alternative. oaklandside.org/2026/04/02/o...
Skyline High School has 17 AP classes. Castlemont has 0. OUSD has a serious college prep gap
White and Asian students take AP classes at twice the rate of their Black and Latino peers. And while one Oakland school has 17 course options, many others have zero.
oaklandside.org
This is the part called not war.
CNN@cnn.com · 4mo agoOne Palestinian was killed and seven others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded displacement camp in central Gaza. Two thirds of Gaza's population continue to live in tents or damaged buildings six months after a ceasefire agreement, the UN says.
