Rule by the elite, wealthy few is possible through specific institutional mechanisms by which wealthy elites convert economic power into governmental power. These are the key areas where oligarchs have taken control.
The Sparrow Project
@thesparrowproject.bsky.social
A grassroots public interest newswire amplifying stories from struggles for social, racial, and environmental justice. Posts by Andy Stepanian. https://sparrowmedia.net
Due to Trump's gutting of election security infrastructure, states fear the feds won't reliably share election threat info, turning instead to industry to defend the American vote. As revealed in docs we obtained and shared w/ @sarahdwire.bsky.social / @usatoday.com. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
States don't expect feds to reliably share election threats: Exclusive
State election officials say federal agencies are failing to provide security support needed for midterms.
usatoday.com
Big: The White House initially blocked distribution of the FBI's intelligence report on supposed Iranian threats to the US, but we got it. And we shared it w/ @reuters.com @tedhesson.bsky.social @kristinacooke.bsky.social. #FOIA www.reuters.com/world/us/int...
Exclusive: Intelligence report warned of Iran's 'persistent threat' to US as White House downplayed the risk
The FBI warned U.S. state and local law enforcement of an elevated threat posed by Iran's government to targets in the United States last month even as the White House sought to downplay the likelih...
reuters.com
The Trump administration is targeting ICE tracking apps and their developers as security threats, as revealed in intelligence documents we obtained and shared with @newyorker.com. #FOIA www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
ICE-Tracking Apps Have Helped People Avoid Immigration Agents. Are They Legal?
ICEBlock was meant to help people avoid immigration enforcement. The Trump Administration claims that the app endangered the agents of its mass-deportation campaign.
newyorker.com
Sorry I've been a bit dormant. Working on something significant. Love you all.
A decade of sensitive data from children's brain scans left the NIH and ended up in the hands of white supremacists who cherry picked from it's findings to create reporting to support bias "race science" papers that later became source material for Grok and ChatGPT. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/u...
Genetic Data From Over 20,000 U.S. Children Misused for ‘Race Science’
nytimes.com
BIG: The case for Tren de Aragua being invading narco-terrorists, key to Trump's attacks on Venezuela and immigrant communities at home, is just another manufactured threat, as revealed in a trove of intel documents we provided to @dell.bsky.social / @wired.com. #FOIA www.wired.com/story/trump-...
Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story
Hundreds of records obtained by WIRED show thin intelligence on the Venezuelan gang in the United States, describing fragmented, low-level crime rather than a coordinated terrorist threat.
wired.com
At most, Tren De Aragua in the US amounts to little more than organized retail theft and small scale prostitution. The "gang" has almost no footprint inside the US at all, and yet Trump and DHS used the specter of an illusive "TDA" to cast a wide net that insnared thousands latine folks in the US.
Property of the People@propertyofthepeople.org · 7mo agoBIG: The case for Tren de Aragua being invading narco-terrorists, key to Trump's attacks on Venezuela and immigrant communities at home, is just another manufactured threat, as revealed in a trove of intel documents we provided to @dell.bsky.social / @wired.com. #FOIA www.wired.com/story/trump-...
BIG: FBI using Trump's broad "anti-antifa" order to target anti-ICE organizing as anarchist extremist terrorism, as revealed in intelligence documents we obtained and shared w/ @samtlevin.bsky.social / @us.theguardian.com. #FOIA
Revealed: FBI opened domestic terrorism investigations into anti-ICE activity across US
Internal report shared with Guardian shows FBI has launched cases in 23 regions, some linked to Trump memo on thwarting ‘terroristic activities’
theguardian.com
More seriously, Benz is going to attempt to "Twitter Files" USAID. We can assume he is coordinating with his white supremacist colleague and armpit stain in human form, Darren Beattie, overseeing the effort at State. Be forewarned: wiczipedia.substack.com/p/the-extrem...
The Extremist at the State Department is Doing Exactly What We Thought He Would
Explaining the latest Trump Administration enemies list (yes, another one)
wiczipedia.substack.com
Nina Jankowicz@ninajankowicz.com · 8mo agoMike Benz, who does not know which finger is his pinky, is now a "special government employee" at USAID, where he is attempting to investigate its "pernicious influence." You'd think this guy would be too dumb even for the Trump regime. Nope!!! Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
The Trump regime has been busy dismantling American democracy, but we've been busy fighting back! We've been furiously exposing Trump and his co-conspirators. This Giving Tuesday, fight back with us by helping Property of the People continue our critical mission! propertyofthepeople.org/donate/
BIG: FBI spied on Signal group chat of immigration activists CourtWatch, classifying them as violent terrorist extremists for quietly sitting in on court cases, as revealed in intel bulletin we obtained & shared w/ @samtlevin.bsky.social @us.theguardian.com. #FOIA www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records reveal
Exclusive: Agency accessed private conversations of New York ‘courtwatch’ group that was observing public hearings
theguardian.com
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting. now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
As Condé Nast Folds Teen Vogue Into Vogue’s Website, NewsGuild Condemns the Plan
The union, which reps staffers, says the move was "clearly designed" to blunt the journalism of the brand, which has leaned in to progressive politics.
hollywoodreporter.com
Lex McMenamin (they/them)@lexmcmenamin.com · 9mo agoI was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day. certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
BIG: Federal and local law enforcement agencies spread false rumors about Venezuelan gang threats, bolstering Trump's mass deportation frenzy, as revealed in new intelligence documents we obtained and shared with @samtlevin.bsky.social / @us.theguardian.com. #FOIA www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Revealed: police across US spread false rumors about Venezuelan gang threats
Claim that Tren de Aragua planned to attack officers was widely shared – only for FBI to later acknowledge it was mistaken, internal files show
theguardian.com
It should. And we have to try. Democracy is always in the effort, in the growth, in becoming better versions of what we imagine. But we need more noise, more outrage, more calls to congress & DHS & Bondi, more signatures for petitions calling for his release. www.commondreams.org/news/mario-g...
Can Public Outrage and Protest Save Journalist Mario Guevara Like It Did Jimmy Kimmel? | Common Dreams
Mario Guevara's legal team wants a federal judge to free the Salvadoran journalist, who faces "imminent" deportation from the United States after being arrested while covering a June "No Kings" prot...
commondreams.org
1/ While everyone is focused on Comey, Trump did this today. How many more of us will be targeted? How many rounded up? How many designated terrorists and prosecuted before those who remain on the sidelines finally open their eyes to what’s happening? www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
In Dangerous Attack on Left-Leaning Nonprofits, Trump Orders Government to Go After ‘Domestic Terrorism Networks’
Read more here.
democracydocket.com
Late-night comedy is definitely under threat of censorship. Comedians are always a line of attack for authoritarians. But so are other reporters & truth-tellers. Read my latest on the Mario Guevara case & the broader (daily) attacks on free speech by our admin: pressingissues.org/trumps-attac...
Trump’s Attacks on Free Speech Are Way Bigger Than Just Late-Night Comedy
This administration tries to muzzle dissent and the truth every day.
pressingissues.org
BIG: US law enforcement claims certain *emojis* could signal Tren de Aragua gang membership, leading to deportations, as revealed in intelligence documents we obtained & shared with @samtlevin.bsky.social / @maanvisingh.bsky.social / @us.theguardian.com. #FOIA www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Revealed: US law enforcement claimed emojis could signal Tren de Aragua affiliation
Claims are ‘an unsophisticated, uneducated approach that demonstrates a lack of knowledge’, says one professor
theguardian.com
A reminder that THIS is what a man who died telling the truth looks like. Be in peace Anas Al Sharif. سلام عليك يا أنس الشريف
If I have any credibility with you from 20 years of reporting on rightwing & fascist movements, please listen when I beg you not to celebrate Charlie Kirk getting shot. Leave aside morality: this isn’t a match in dry grass, it’s a torch. We do not want what this could ignite & we would not win.
You can be unapologetically antifascist and simultaneously not revel in moments of political violence like this. Two children are now without a father, a wife is without their partner. We need to humanize each other, even those we vehemently oppose. الله يرحَمُه
Our latest: LA anti-ICE protests spurred US military to identify "hotels to avoid" due to "harassment," as revealed in an intelligence document we obtained and shared with @samtlevin.bsky.social / @us.theguardian.com. #FOIA
LA Ice protests spurred US military to identify ‘hotels to avoid’ due to ‘harassment’
Exclusive: Organizers disrupted Trump’s immigration crackdown by targeting hotels where officers were staying, documents show
theguardian.com
Yes to border cops, no to public media? Got it. Congress approved $170 billion for immigration enforcement, incl. $75 billion in extra funding for ICE. But the Senate may approve a budget CUT package to claw back $1.1 billion from public broadcasters PBS & NPR. The Senate has until July 18 to vote.
Nora Benavidez@attorneynora.bsky.social · last yr.Benavidez said defunding public media is another part of the authoritarian strategy. “Public media is one of the last free, essential ways ppl can access info. Defunding them is a fundamental attack on the public’s ability to access free & accurate info.” www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/put-...
Our director @rshapiro.bsky.social discussing our latest: US Army and state intelligence centers are targeting civilian-made online ICE raid maps as security threats, as revealed in new intel docs we obtained & shared w/ @dell.bsky.social @dmehro.bsky.social @wired.com. www.wired.com/story/no-kin...
The reckoning for freedom is here & we’ve got to fight for a collective freedom if we have any hope of upending Trump’s retaliation campaign. Read @brianstelter.bsky.social @cnn.com piece outlining what’s at stake: www.cnn.com/2025/06/14/m...
Anti-Trump protests cap a week of free speech stress tests across America | CNN Business
Virtually every flashpoint in American politics right now involves the First Amendment right to free speech and free expression.
cnn.com
Scoop: US Army and state intelligence centers are targeting civilian-made online ICE raid maps as security threats, as revealed in new intel docs we obtained and shared w/ @dell.bsky.social / @wired.com. #FOIA www.wired.com/story/no-kin...
'No Kings’ Protests, Citizen-Run ICE Trackers Trigger Intelligence Warnings
Army intelligence analysts are monitoring civilian-made ICE tracking tools, treating them as potential threats, as immigration protests spread nationwide.
wired.com
BIG STORY: FBI's WMD Office colluding with Big Ag lobby group to target animal rights activists as "bioterrorists" for conducting undercover investigations on factory farms, as revealed in intel documents we obtained & shared w/ @dell.bsky.social @wired.com. #FOIA www.wired.com/story/fbi-wm...
How the Farm Industry Spied on Animal Rights Activists and Pushed the FBI to Treat Them as Bioterrorists
For years, a powerful ‘Big Ag’ trade group served up information on activists to the FBI. Records reveal a decade-long effort to see the animal rights movement labeled a “bioterrorism” threat.
wired.com
This Thursday we're hosting a virtual conversation on free speech in the age of retaliation. @attorneynora.bsky.social will moderate this discussion with experts from @lawyerscomm.bsky.social and @ccrjustice.org. RSVP here! bit.ly/fpaorsoc
