Michael Hawthorne
@scribeguy.bsky.social
Midwesterner. Pulitzer finalist. Dig into environment/public health for the Chicago Tribune. Confidential tips welcome via SIGNAL: scribeguy.35 EPL/NBA/MLB obsessive. Victoria Concordia Crescit. https://www.chicagotribune.com/author/michael-hawthorne
Autopsies of Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protests often conclude that movements produced tough-on-crime backlash. My new study in Work and Occupations finds a different kind of movement outcome: BLM changed how local reporters cover cops and jails. 🧵 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
NEW: Nate Schatzline is a voting fraud conspiracy theorist who believes he is at war with demonic forces and has close ties to a movement of "prophets" that helped spark Jan 6. So why did Gov. Greg Abbott just give him a $275,000 job as a senior advisor on "election integrity" issues? (Gift link).
He Sees Politics as a Spiritual Battle Against Demonic Forces. Now He’s Advising the Governor.
Meet Nate Schatzline, the Christian nationalist and former state representative who is helping Greg Abbott manage “election integrity.”
texasmonthly.com
As energy prices continue to rise and power outages become more frequent amid extreme weather events, ComEd customers have a new option to help navigate both problems. A giant backyard battery.
Base Power launches backyard battery backup system for ComEd customers
chicagotribune.com
Think about it. Trump and Jeanine Pirro had no hesitation in sending an innocent man to jail because Trump isn’t adult enough to admit he screwed up on the reflecting pool.
A freelance reporter has been fighting a subpoena from the Trump administration seeking to force him to reveal his sources for a New York Times article about a failed top secret mission in North Korea, according to people familiar with the matter.
Justice Dept. Subpoenas Times Freelancer in Effort to Identify Sources
A previously undisclosed subpoena, involving reporting on a failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea, reflects the government’s expanding campaign to investigate leaks of secrets.
nyti.ms
Golly get Willikers what a shock that people who don't like immigration also think that the confederacy was the right side in the civil war. Nobody [everyone from Douglass onward] would have predicted that!
Stephanie Kollmann@slkollmann.bsky.social · 4d agowake up, babe! new Unassimilated Germans angst just dropped (Added alt text) bsky.app/profile/nied...
In the old days (2021), the Feds used to help water systems and local governments to prevent them from getting hacked www.route-fifty.com/infrastructu...
Failed Poisoning Attempt Shows Vulnerability of Smaller Water Systems to Hackers
While cybersecurity resources can be scarce at small agencies, there are some basic steps they can take to protect themselves.
route-fifty.com
For a disease as spectacularly scary as smallpox, its history is remarkably mysterious. Here is my look at what ancient DNA from the viruses is revealing. Gift link: nyti.ms/4vTU11D
‘This Is Very Strange’: Ancient Smallpox May Have Been Less Deadly (Gift Article)
Scientists have found smallpox viruses in the remains of people in Chile from around 500 years ago, revealing how the virus may have evolved into a global killer.
nyti.ms
Prosecutors charged an LAPD officer with felony eavesdropping for making secret recordings of his colleagues’ racist, sexist and homophobic comments on the job
LAPD officer who recorded colleagues' racist comments charged with felony eavesdropping
Los Angeles County prosecutors on Friday charged an LAPD officer with felony eavesdropping for making secret recordings of his colleagues' racist, sexist and homophobic comments on the job.
latimes.com
“The (Trump administration’s) proposed changes would remove most of Head Start’s 133 pages of requirements for math and literacy curriculums, class sizes, medical screenings, home visits and even a requirement that children brush their teeth after meals.”
Trump Administration Plans to Upend Head Start by Deregulating It
The White House tried but failed to block funding for preschool for poor children. Instead, it will seek to strip away standards on health, literacy — and brushing teeth.
nytimes.com
When people say “run government like a business,” I always wonder where they work because businesses do an incredible amount of stupid shit.
GOP Rep. Jack Bergman of Michigan has been virtually silent during Trump’s second term about tariffs on Canada, even as they harm his constituents on the border./ Reporting by: @annaleighclark.bsky.social
As Trump’s Tariff War With Canada Drags On, This Border Community Suffers Without a Voice
Under an intensifying trade war, parts of northern Michigan are feeling the financial pain. But with a president intent on conflict and a congressman silent on the issue, these Michiganders see no sig...
propublica.org
Reiterating that Musk's literal voter bribery last time was an unambiguous go-directly-to-jail felony, for which people have been successfully prosecuted over vastly smaller amounts. It wasn't just pouring money into a PAC, whatever one thinks of that. It was a black-letter plain-as-day crime.
Yes, Elon Musk’s Vote-Buying Is Against the Law
People have gone to prison for comparable schemes.
thebulwark.com
Matt Novak@paleofuture.bsky.social · 6d agoMusk got away with his $1 million vote-buying scheme in 2024. Why wouldn't he try something similar this November?
oh sick, thats awesome. I always said the sport was missing private equity.
NPR@npr.org · last wk.FIFA has a complex plan to sell chunks of its commercial rights to the World Cup to minority investors, including a firm run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner. n.pr/44TyzyY
Unreal pin selection on Mikel Merino’s Instagram page. The UEFA Champions League next… 🙏🏼
"Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the U.S. EV market on behalf of the oil industry, the future of trucks—as well as passenger vehicles—is no doubt electric."
The Spike in a Flatlining U.S. EV Market
Electric truck sales are surging despite Donald Trump’s oil industry-favored policies
themoneytrail.substack.com
SpaceX rocket that exploded shortly after takeoff destroyed land & wildlife: Concrete chunks had left craters a foot deep & were strewn across tidal flats, almost four acres of state park burned, 7 bobwhite quail eggs & a collection of blue land crabs incinerated. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
SpaceX Blast Left Officials in Disbelief Over Environmental Damage
Fish and Wildlife Service biologists expressed frustrations in emails obtained by Bloomberg.
bloomberg.com
This is framed as a feel-good story, but it should scare the wits out of anybody on the road. Tesla's deceptive marketing is convincing seniors that the cars drive themselves. In reality, a human must always be ready to intervene. If someone lacks the ability to do that, they shouldn't be driving!
Forget rideshare. How seniors are using Teslas for transportation
As Waymo and Tesla robotaxi services promise more rides for more cities, seniors are taking matters into their own hands and self-driving Teslas.
detroitnews.com
open enrollment starts three weeks before the election
Kathleen Bachynski@bachynski.bsky.social · last wk.“The decision means that millions of Americans 65 and older could face higher Medicare drug premiums next year, when the cost of living is already a major concern… In the weeks leading up to November, Medicare beneficiaries could experience sticker shock while shopping for next year’s drug plan”
I was pulling photos from Getty Images today and this one took my breath away for a second. "Plain clothed federal agents pursue a man through the lobby of the Hennepin County Government Center before tackling and arresting him Tuesday, February 10, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn."
On the campaign trail ahead of Election Day 2024, Trump said Americans could expect to see their energy bills cut in half by July 2026. It’s July 2026. How’d that work out?
Rachel Maddow@maddow.bsky.social · last wk."From Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 to April 2026 (the most recent month for which government data are available), residential electricity rates have risen by an eye-watering 18%..." www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
NEW: The government's own witness in the felony Reflecting Pool case couldn't represent that the damage cost $1K+, the core element of the crime.
Witness in Reflecting Pool case conceded damage before canoeist touched water
The only grand jury witness in David “Davey” Hearn’s case said the area was already damaged and could not represent that his alleged actions cost more than $1,000, his attorneys said.
nbcnews.com
Great case study of the secret deals that have enabled tech companies to build fossil-powered data centers at maximum speed and to deny the affected communities any input. For Louisiana Gov. Landry, signing the NDA with Meta & Entergy was the formula for meeting his goal of more oil & gas drilling.
How Meta Got Everything It Wanted in a Secret Louisiana Data Center Deal (Gift Article)
A Times examination details how the Silicon Valley giant used private talks with local officials to start a project big enough to cover nearly six square miles.
nytimes.com
Epstein survivor Dani Bensky: You can’t say that you want to make sure sex offenders and sex traffickers are behind bars and then vote for him. Every vote for Blanche is really a vote against survivors. If Thom Tillis wants to call, I’m happy to talk to him. We’ve been trying to get in touch
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s request to pause a lower court order that blocks the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) from executing the president’s March executive order attacking mail voting. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
Trump’s anti-mail voting order gets blocked again, this time by federal appeals court
Trump's sweeping assault on mail voting won’t be carried out in 23 states and D.C. ahead of November's midterms.
democracydocket.com
