Leah Feiger

The Instant Smear Campaign Against Border Patrol Shooting Victim Alex Pretti Within minutes of the shooting, the Trump administration and right-wing influencers began disparaged the man shot by a federal immigration officer on Saturday in Minneapolis.

NEW:

Within minutes of Alex Pretti being shot and killed, the Trump administration began rewriting the narrative, labelling the victim as a "lunatic" and a "terrorist" contradicting all available evidence

www.wired.com/story/the-in...

Federal law enforcement agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 according to local police officials. DHS told Fox News that the man was “armed with a gun”. A video of the shooting appears to show that a gun was taken from the man before the first shot was fired. x.com/BillMelugin_...

the reporting out of Minneapolis from @jackjenkins.me is some of the best I'm seeing -- I haven't seen religious leaders mobilized on an issue like this in quite some time. very much worth a follow and your time!!

"You can only preach against ICE for so long before God calls you to get out of the pulpit and get to the streets”

AI-Powered Disinformation Swarms Are Coming for Democracy Advances in artificial intelligence are creating a perfect storm for those seeking to spread disinformation at unprecedented speed and scale. And it’s virtually impossible to detect.

NEW:

You think disinformation is bad now?

Wait until you hear about "AI swarms" and how they have the potential to upend democracy across the globe

www.wired.com/story/ai-pow...

ICE Agents Are ‘Doxing’ Themselves The alleged risks of being publicly identified have not stopped DHS  and ICE employees from creating profiles on LinkedIn, even as Kristi Noem threatens to treat revealing agents' identities as a crim...

ICE complains about 'doxing' any time one of their officers is identified. Meanwhile at least 1,000 of them are apparently putting ICE right there in their LinkedIn profiles. from
@regret.bsky.social

DHS’s Data Grab Is Getting Citizens Kicked Off Voter Rolls, New Complaint Says As states check voter registration against a mashup of federal data, a new complaint says US citizens are getting kicked off state voter rolls as a result.

Stitching together flawed data stored in different formats to create an unconstitutional citizenship database to check voter rolls against because US leaders are in the grip of conspiracy theories is having exactly the effect you would expect. @telliotter.bsky.social reports:

We Are Witnessing the Self-Immolation of a Superpower With Donald Trump’s actions in Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela, a foreign enemy could not invent a better chain of events to wreck the standing of the United States.

‘With Donald Trump’s actions in Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela, a foreign enemy could not invent a better chain of events to wreck the standing of the United States.’

always read @vermontgmg.bsky.social:

Trump Davos Drama; AI Midterms; ChatGPT's Last Resort

Exciting news! I’m now cohosting @wired.com’s Uncanny Valley podcast with @zoeschiffer.bsky.social and @brbarrett.bsky.social! Tune in every Thursday as we dive into Wired’s scoops, the news of the week, and more from inside Silicon Valley and DC!

In horror at the detention of a child, this moment from our reporting on Minneapolis today stands out —

An ICE agent saw a bald eagle while driving with a detained US citizen. The agent said to the driver, “there’s a bald eagle, do you know what that means?” The driver said: “God is on our side.”

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino is seen deploying a gas canister at Mueller Park in south Minneapolis this afternoon.

Video by Ben Luhmann.

Pro-AI Super PACs Are Already All In on the Midterms Silicon Valley’s battle against AI regulation is already shaping the next US election cycle.

Silicon Valley is already dumping money into the 2026 midterms.

read Maxwell Zeff for @wired.com on the major players spending millions:

On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti Get ready for your aha moment: Every weekday, host Meghna Chakrabarti pierces your news bubble to expose the whole story. Getting answers to the questions that need to be asked, examining our history ...

ICYMI: Catch me on @npr.org's On Point, talking about the one year anniversary of DOGE (it still exists) and what comes next.

And if you're a government worker or a tech worker and you want to talk, you can find me on Signal at Vittoria89.82

www.npr.org/podcasts/510...

Minnesota Is Just the Beginning. California and New York Are ‘Next’ The Trump administration appears to be planning to leverage the same playbook used in Minnesota to go after other blue states.

anyways, go take time with this story. Minneapolis is not the first American city to be under siege from ICE, and it looks like it may not be the last:

from an elementary school teacher:

from a realtor who was detained after filming federal agents:

from a volunteer observer detained by ICE in Minneapolis:

‘I’m Witnessing a Lot of Emptiness’: How ICE Uprooted Normal Life in Minneapolis WIRED talks to a postal worker, a teacher, two US citizens detained by federal agents, and six more Minnesota residents about life in an occupied American city.

“At one point, one [agent] said to my friend: ‘You need to stop. You need to stop obstructing us. That’s why that lesbian bitch is dead.’ Then he smashed the passenger window...The doors were unlocked, but he never attempted to open the doors. He just smashed the window.”

‘I’m Witnessing a Lot of Emptiness’: How ICE Uprooted Normal Life in Minneapolis WIRED talks to a postal worker, a teacher, two US citizens detained by federal agents, and six more Minnesota residents about life in an occupied American city.

WIRED spoke to 10 residents in Minneapolis about what life has been like for them since ICE seized the city. I know there's a lot of coverage out there, but spend time with this heart wrenching piece:

Former USDS Leaders Launch Tech Reform Project to Fix What DOGE Broke The plan, which is still in its early stages, is spearheaded by former USDS administrator Mikey Dickerson.

Inside the plan to fix the mess DOGE created

www.wired.com/story/former...

Minnesota Is Just the Beginning. California and New York Are ‘Next’ The Trump administration appears to be planning to leverage the same playbook used in Minnesota to go after other blue states.

New from my colleagues @leahfeiger.bsky.social and @makenakelly.bsky.social: The Trump administration is planning Minnesota-style ICE blitzes in California and New York, as well as other blue states. @wired.com

www.wired.com/story/califo...

Minnesota Is Just the Beginning. California and New York Are ‘Next’ The Trump administration appears to be planning to leverage the same playbook used in Minnesota to go after other blue states.

NEW: Minnesota Is Just the Beginning. California and New York Are ‘Next,' according to a senior White House official.

more from me + @leahfeiger.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/califo...

Minnesota Is Just the Beginning. California and New York Are ‘Next’ The Trump administration appears to be planning to leverage the same playbook used in Minnesota to go after other blue states.

NEW: The Trump administration appears to be deploying the same playbook it used in Minnesota—leveraging allegations of fraud to justify significant federal oversight—in other blue states across the country, starting with California and New York.

from me + @makenakelly.bsky.social:

Senior Editor, Science WIRED is where a better future is imagined. For three decades, we have been the indispensable guide to a world in constant transformation. We cover humanity’s biggest challenges, from climate change t...

Hey! @wired.com is doing a bunch of hiring. Here we go with a thread of five great jobs, with a few more coming shortly:

1) We are hiring a senior editor for our science desk, which means you get to work with geniuses like @timmarchman.bsky.social @mollytaft.com and @emilymullin.bsky.social

Trump Doesn’t Need the Proud Boys Anymore In a world where ICE agents are shooting US citizens on the street, the need for militias and extremist groups like the Proud Boys to support far-right interests has evaporated.

NEW:

With ICE on hand, Trump simply doesn't need the Proud Boys anymore

www.wired.com/story/trump-...

“This is an alarming escalation in the Trump administration's multipronged war on press freedom. The Department of Justice (and the judge who approved this outrageous warrant) is either ignoring or distorting the Privacy Protection Act, which bars law enforcement from raiding newsrooms and reporters to search for evidence of alleged crimes by others, with very few inapplicable exceptions. “The government has said that Natanson is not under investigation, nor should she be for simply reporting information provided to her by sources. Even the Trump DOJ's guidelines on searching reporters' source materials (which were weakened from prior guidelines based on the administration's proven lies [freedom.press] about "fake news") make clear that it's a last resort for rare emergencies only. The administration may now be in possession of volumes of journalist communications having nothing to do with any pending investigation and, if investigators are able to access them, we have zero faith that they will respect journalist-source confidentiality.”

. @seth-stern.bsky.social at @freedom.press: "The administration may now be in possession of volumes of journalist communications having nothing to do with any pending investigation and, if investigators ... access them, we have zero faith that they will respect journalist-source confidentiality"

It’s been one week since Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, sparking intense local and national reactions. Thousands have taken to the streets in protest and remembrance. www.wired.com/story/photo-...

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.

NEW: Trump warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘invasion,’ but 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.

read @dell.bsky.social and @rshapiro.bsky.social:

F.B.I. Searches Home of Washington Post Journalist for Classified Documents

Really working their way through the ol' First Amendment.

Everything Is Content for the ‘Clicktatorship’ In the second Trump administration, online conspiracy theories are shaping real-world policies like never before.

First new piece of the year for @wired.com. I chatted with @donmoyn.bsky.social about the cycle of policy and online conspiracy that has defined Trump 2.0 aka the "clicktatorship."

www.wired.com/story/everyt...