Melissa Lewis
@melissa.news
data reporter, Center for Investigative Reporting (@motherjones.com + @revealnews.org)
Bellingcat's @godin.bsky.social spoke with NPR about Google's now paused new feature that allowed users to create AI-generated satellite images.
Geoff Brumfiel@gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 5d agoUPDATED STORY! Google has paused a tool that allowed users to briefly create deepfake AI satellite images with the click of a button. www.npr.org/2026/07/31/n...
Nothing says summer blockbuster like Lars von Trier at the helm of “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota”
Jesse Hawken@jessehawken.bsky.social · last wk.Studio execs are going to want to adapt more poems for the big screen now
It is rare for the public to see such a large list of ICE’s technology capabilities in a single document. 404 Media has published the whole document, called “ICE Wide Analytical Tools," here: www.404media.co/leaked-docum... @josephcox.bsky.social reports:
Man, I wish I saw this more often on news websites, but of course I simply wish more news organizations had a data desk. That said, sadly, the most recent version of the HTML cookbook it mentions was archived June 2019. 😢 web.archive.org/web/20190606...
Federal lawyers say anti-mask laws would endanger immigration agents, citing an ICE face-recognition art project that doesn’t actually work. www.wired.com/story/states...
States Want ICE Agents to Show Their Faces. The Trump Administration Is Blocking Them
Federal lawyers say anti-mask laws would endanger immigration agents, citing an ICE face-recognition art project that doesn’t actually work.
wired.com
Least expected outcome of finally starting Something Wicked This Way Comes: Learning Paul Giamatti has a beautiful singing voice?? I got the audiobook so I can continue it even during chores and, ~12 chapters in, it seems it was a very good call.
Comrades with wildfire smoke: Really do wear respiratory protection, that shit isn't just bad in the moment, it has serious long-term health implications and not just for your lungs! If you don't have an air purifier really do try to get one, if possible, and REMEMBER TO CLEAN AND CHANGE FILTERS.
NEW: SFPD exposed its live police drone feeds to the open internet. Color + thermal, 5,000 GPS points over 44 miles + pilots’ names and emails. No authentication. Found by a routine scrape of the manufacturer’s domain.
A Leak of San Francisco Police Drone Footage Exposes the New Reality of Urban Surveillance
The SFPD’s exposure of hours of videos from drone platform Skydio reveals how broadly it’s watching the city from above—and how the results can spill online.
wired.com
Ruth Talbot works on the news apps team at ProPublica: “I work with absolutely incredible, driven, dedicated, talented people here, who I trust to get their work done wherever works best for them.” Support our fight for an RTO policy that preserves flexibility: www.propublicaguild.org
Older lady peeped the rainbow flag on my bike, asked in a thick Russian accent “It’s your Pride?” She told me her youngest grandchild is “not she berry or he berry but no berry.” I said “Nonbinary?” She got so excited. Yes! Yes! And “Is a secret, but they are my“ *looks around, whispers* “favorite.”
Not actually sending this response to the Audacity user survey because it doesn't answer the question for them, but I feel it with my whole heart
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association received >$7 million 2017–2022 (when Dobbs was decided) from funders we tracked. From the amicus brief it filed in that case: "Like a seven-year-old, the unborn person has *life*, and that is what is expressly protected by [the Constitution]."
Abby Vesoulis@abbyvesoulis.bsky.social · 2mo agoA groundbreaking investigation by @pemalevy.bsky.social and @melissa.news goes deep on the right-wing funding networks pushing the Supreme Court to give billionaires what they want. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
“.. Claims about Hormuz reopening are exactly why we built this: If ships start moving through the Strait with AIS transponders on, you’ll see it in the index — updated every 30 minutes ..” @bloomberg.com
I've reported on Musk for around 8 years. I've co-authored a book on him. I don't think folks understand the rate of his wealth accumulation. Shortly after he helped elect Donald Trump in Nov 2024, his net worth was around $350 billion. That net worth has nearly tripled in less than two years.
"We are deeply concerned by the alleged use of the herbicide and lack of information,” two lawmakers wrote to the Forest Service, demanding answers about Roundup use on public lands after our investigation revealed widespread spraying. www.motherjones.com/environment/...
Lawmakers demand answers after we revealed Forest Service spraying Roundup all over public lands
“We are deeply concerned.”
motherjones.com
Prefatory to this harrowing litany by @cjcmichel.bsky.social: "Despite Kushner’s insistence during the 2024 campaign that he would have little involvement in a second Trump term, he is once more at the center of almost every major geopolitical event."
This is an outrageous story. A farmer donated 87 acres to a small Texas city on the condition it be used as a public park. Years later, the farmer has passed away, the city sold the land to a developer, and now it will be the site of a 135,000 square foot data center www.404media.co/a-farmer-don...
A Farmer Donated Land to Turn into a Park. The City Is Building a Massive Data Center Instead
In 1999, a farmer gave away 87 acres of land to a small Texas town to use as a park. The town sold to a data center developer for $10 million.
404media.co
Local newsrooms are drying up across the country, making it harder for people to stay informed and exacerbating a crisis of trust in the news media. How American journalism got here and what can be done about it, on this week’s Reveal.
American journalism is in crisis. But is the problem what we think it is, and what would a more democratic media even look like?
A majority of Americans say they don’t trust the news media. But what if people are wrong about what’s really wrong with journalism?
revealnews.org
california is gonna have so many mail in ballots that don’t get counted because people don’t know the new USPS rules that are impacting mail in voting. tl;dr don’t put your ballot in the mail today, find a ballot drop box. www.kqed.org/news/1208537...
Still Need to Mail Your Primary Ballot? Don’t Rely on USPS, Officials Say | KQED
State officials are warning that some ballots mailed too close to Election Day might not be counted. Here are other recommended ways to submit your ballot instead.
kqed.org
Fun feature of workplace harassment training: The state-level note stating "Please see the January 2025 Executive Order that may contradict legal protections in some states, in which case the protection exists at the state level but not at the federal level."
I’m a climate scientist. Let me fix this headline. “Nearly a century ago, scientists showed that burning fossil fuels warms the planet. Today, we know human emissions account for over 100% of the warming. Yet dark money and disinformation still work to keep Americans addicted to fossil fuels.”
Forbes@forbes.com · 2mo agoScientists have reached a consensus that human behavior is a big driver of climate change—but Americans aren't buying it.
Being an American during the 250th Aniversary of the United States feels a lot like if the terrorists in Die Hard demanded that the hostages continue having their Christmas party.
NEW: Trump's gross Aliens.gov site claims to map where immigrants have been taken into custody, but it includes more 83 spots where Americans alone were arrested. Over 700 locations include citizen arrests. The counter is fake. The music was ripped. And Puerto Rico is listed as a foreign country.
The White House’s Aliens.gov Site Brags That ICE Arrested More Than 700 US Citizens
The website, which compares human beings to extraterrestrials, touts arrest numbers from the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown. But some of its details are really out there.
wired.com
They’re turning the entire federal internet apparatus into a galaxy of phishing sites that are controlled by the president and do not adhere to any federal privacy or disclosure rules.
Someone emailed the show host to explain that raw milk is good, actually, according to the AI chatbot she consulted. Every story lately is just one, singular story tied together in different places.
Anna Merlan @annamerlan.bsky.social · 2mo agoI'm at the end of this segment to explain why you should not, in fact, drink raw milk megaphone.link/VMP4247572540
The federal government circulated a "Be on the Lookout" alert to law enforcement across the country targeting comedian Ben Palmer. He didn't know about it until I told him. New story with @injusticewatch.org, co-published with @us.theguardian.com:
DHS placed a comedian on law enforcement’s radar. Illinois spread the word.
Illinois State Police distributed a federal “Be on the Lookout” alert for comedian Ben Palmer over a satirical immigration tip line that went viral.
injusticewatch.org
