Leah Feiger
@leahfeiger.bsky.social
director of politics and science @wired.com, co-host of Uncanny Valley (available wherever you get your podcasts!) -- signal leahfeiger.86 with tips
NEW A group of anti-Trump MAGA figures are prepping to run a third-party candidate for president in 2028. The name at the top of their list: Tucker Carlson www.wired.com/story/maga-i...
MAGA Is In Turmoil Over Tucker Carlson's Possible 2028 Presidential Bid
Joe Kent says that he and other anti-Donald Trump MAGA figures have formed a new movement. They want Tucker Carlson to run for the presidency in 2028.
wired.com
for months, ive been trying to map out the ways the right and the left were uniting against data centers and AI both here's my story on my efforts, featuring steve bannon's anti-tech prophet, my girlfriend's high school english class, and the unabomber:
How Data Centers Broke American Politics
What the Unabomber, Steve Bannon’s tech guy, and Bernie Sanders taught me about the great data center backlash of 2026.
wired.com
NEW: In 2025 ICE obtained DNA from nearly one million people and funneled it into an FBI criminal database. The collection likely included DNA from young children and was backed by the threat of criminal prosecution. The raw genetic material is stored indefinitely. Free to read:
ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children
Internal documents show ICE's DNA collection has skyrocketed in the second Trump administration. Now hundreds of thousands of people never convicted of a crime are in an FBI criminal database forever.
wired.com
Can Republicans actually send Dr. Anthony Fauci to jail? @davidgilbert.bsky.social talked to some legal experts about a question I deeply want to know the answer to:
Can Republicans Actually Send Anthony Fauci to Jail?
MAGA is loudly calling for the former White House chief medical adviser to end up in prison. WIRED asked legal experts to weigh in on whether that’s even possible.
wired.com
SCOOP: former DOGE-ers are now in leadership positions at prediction markets because *of course* they are read @knibbs.bsky.social !
DOGE Veterans Are Landing Big Jobs at Prediction Markets
Polymarket and Novig have both recently brought ex-DOGE affiliates onboard as scrutiny of the industry intensifies.
wired.com
NEW: DHS’s top data-cruncher has resigned after getting worn down by the Trump admin’s “war on immigrants” and “war on feds,” per his LinkedIn. @noahshachtman.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/dhs-of...
DHS Official Resigns, Citing ‘War on Immigrants’
The outgoing executive director of the Office of Homeland Security Statistics is one of very few federal officials to speak out against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
wired.com
I want to spend all day reading about the rescue of these beluga whales from an abandoned marine park in canada (truly devastating videos, humans don't deserve the sea) -- @knibbs.bsky.social has all the details on their transfer to Chicago's Shedd Aquarium:
Inside the Wild Rescue Mission That Took 4 Beluga Whales to Chicago
Beluga whales were in danger of getting euthanized after a Canadian theme park went bust. WIRED spoke with some of the scientists behind the groundbreaking rescue mission.
wired.com
everything @annamerlan.bsky.social does is a must read:
Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · last wk.NEW: I dug into the court documents in the case of Andrea Shaw, the Idaho mother charged with killing her toddlers. Shaw insists they died following a set of vaccinations. I looked at how the anti-vaccine movement insinuated itself into this case and her life. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
“It’s not an argument with two sides, it’s an argument with 10 sides.” these are the people making the Trump administration's decisions on AI policy -- a really good read from @hugolowell.bsky.social:
This Is Donald Trump’s AI Brain Trust
“It’s not an argument with two sides, it’s an argument with 10 sides,” one senior administration official tells WIRED about how US AI policy is being shaped.
wired.com
NEW Mike Lindell spent years pushing wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen Trump rewarded him by endorsing his run for governor of Minnesota The Minnesota GOP is pissed, believing Lindell has zero chance of defeating Amy Klobuchar in November www.wired.com/story/trump-...
Trump Endorsed the MyPillow Guy as Minnesota Governor. The State GOP Isn’t Buying It
After Trump publicly backed pillow salesman turned election denier Mike Lindell for governor of Minnesota, the local GOP pushed back strongly.
wired.com
NEW: Trump admin is split on what to do about Chinese open AI models — WH focused on preventing Chinese labs like Moonshot distilling frontier US models — But an executive order to ban Chinese labs is not currently on the table — Commerce instead wants to help US companies to develop open models
Taylor Farms, the lettuce supplier at the center of our explosive diarrhea outbreak, has spent millions to oppose food regulation and elect Donald Trump and other MAGA Republicans:
Taylor Farms Spent Big on MAGA and Anti-Regulatory Lobbying Before Diarrhea Outbreak
The company donated more than $3.6 million to conservative groups between 2020 and 2025, including $1 million to the MAGA Inc. super PAC.
wired.com
SCOOP: A little over a month ago, the Pentagon was bragging that half its workforce was using AI. Now the army is saying they’re burning through tokens and need to limit use. For @wired.com www.wired.com/story/the-ar...
The Army Is Burning Through Its AI Tokens
Members of the Army received an email informing them that they were rapidly depleting their AI tokens, and needed to limit use.
wired.com
DOGE axed the CDC team that tracks cyclospora. Now 1000s are sick, restaurants & hospitals scrambling. What's next? “Cyclospora is just one piece. It's making the news right now, but there are other, more dangerous pathogens.” By @emilymullin.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/cdc-cy...
The CDC Has a Cyclospora Lab. DOGE Downsized It Last Year
“Based on simple math, these outbreak responses—which require rapid, timely responses—are going to be greatly diminished,” the former CDC lab director tells WIRED.
wired.com
This month, we published another article revealing that MSG kept a database of VIP event attendees, labeling some of them as LGBTQIA and assigning a “risk score” to others. This is also now free to read:
Madison Square Garden Kept a List of Gay Celebrities
An MSG database tracked and categorized hundreds of celebs, famous Knicks superfans, and even some of Taylor Swift’s wedding guests. Labels included “LGBTQIA,” “DO NOT HOST,” and low to high “risk.”
wired.com
In April, we reported on the MSG surveillance machine–an operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more. You can now read it for free.
The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden’s Surveillance Machine
Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.
wired.com
Yesterday, WIRED learned that Madison Square Garden was suing us for our accurate reporting. We stand by our work. That’s why we’re removing the paywall from two of the MSG stories they don’t want you to read, making them free for everyone.
NEW with @carolinehaskins.bsky.social: ICE is renewing its contract with Thomson Reuters for accessing some their suite of proprietary databases. In the description, ICE says the tools will be used to ID "unaccompanied minors" and identify fraud. www.wired.com/story/ice-un...
ICE Is Using Data Broker Tools to ‘Identify Unaccompanied Minors’ and ‘Fraud’
A newly renewed, $25 million-per-year contract with a subsidiary of Thompson Reuters further expands the power of ICE under the Trump administration.
wired.com
NEW "The deep state is shitting a brick right now" - Alex Jones Election deniers are ignoring the lack of proof released during Trump's speech last night and claiming instead it paves the way for him to declare the Insurrection Act www.wired.com/story/conspi...
Conspiracy Theorists Think Trump’s Speech Paves the Path to the Insurrection Act
Election deniers have spent years promoting the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. They believe Donald Trump’s speech finally proves them right.
wired.com
SCOOP True the Vote, the election denial group behind the debunked 2000 Mules "documentary"—that questioned the 2020 election results—are coming out with a new documentary next month called Trap that will make more baseless allegations about voter fraud www.wired.com/story/the-gr...
The Group Behind ‘2000 Mules’ Is Back With Another Election Conspiracy Film
True the Vote is working with a Detroit pastor to produce a new documentary called Trap, based on claims that have already been thrown out in court.
wired.com
NEW: Conspiracy Theorists Think Trump’s Speech Paves the Path to the Insurrection Act "He will invoke the Insurrection Act and save the Republic." read @davidgilbert.bsky.social:
Conspiracy Theorists Think Trump’s Speech Paves the Path to the Insurrection Act
Election deniers have spent years promoting the idea that the 2020 election was stolen. They believe Donald Trump’s speech finally proves them right.
wired.com
ok Trump's speech was serious and the fear mongering is nothing to laugh at, but as I'm perusing all the documents the White House released I love being reminded that the federal government's doc names resemble everyone's high school papers mybigplan_final_REALLYFINAL
There is no way that "278,000 noncitizens" are voting in US elections, as Trump claims in his speech. Its just not physically possible, as WIRED and other outlets have consistently reported. This is a scare tactic, and it's working. And the repercussions are endless:
Election Officials Are Getting Ready for ICE to Show Up at the Polls
The Trump administration keeps threatening to send federal agents to oversee elections. State and local officials are preparing, and even gaming out what happens if they're arrested.
wired.com
“I was so worried after I had a salad from my local bodega and my stomach was bothering me the rest of the afternoon at work," one woman, who asked to stay anonymous, tells WIRED about her experience with days of watery diarrhea. "But I also have a history of IBS."
Everyone Thinks They Have the Diarrhea Parasite
Cyclosporiasis isn’t the only thing spreading across the US. So is anxiety about getting hit with it.
wired.com
NEW @wired.com: With Trump restarting the Iran war, US intel officials estimate the total cost for the Pentagon could now exceed $100bn Officials were estimating the total cost to hit $50-$100bn at the end of May, but more hostilities means that figure has ballooned www.wired.com/story/pentag...
Intel Officials Predict the Pentagon’s Bill for the Iran War Will Exceed $100 Billion
The Trump administration has not disclosed its cost estimates for the Iran war.
wired.com
Fascinating to see OpenAI employees knife fight with one of their own execs. "Tech billionaires, such as Greg Brockman, funded the super PAC Leading the Future to keep AI unregulated. I was very happy to learn that Guardrails Alliance is pushing back [...] my decision to donate to them was easy."
OpenAI Staffers Are Funding a Rival Super PAC to Take on Their Boss
OpenAI employees have donated more than $215,000 to a political effort opposing Leading the Future, a group backed by the company’s president, Greg Brockman.
wired.com
The US’s explosive diarrhea problem is worse than you think—and it's about to get even messier.
The Explosive Diarrhea Outbreak Is About to Get Much Bigger
Official case counts likely capture only a fraction of US cyclosporiasis infections, and the outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better.
wired.com
