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@SZReports

@szreports.bsky.social

*Investigative journalist at Chicago Sun-Times *Expert in consumer issues *Previously with ABC News Investigative Unit *Medill School of Journalism

1,413 Followers  |  1,019 Following  |  374 Posts  |  Joined: 14.11.2024  |  1.9282

Latest posts by szreports.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Trump to Close Voice of America’s Overseas Offices and Radio Stations

“Mr. Trump’s efforts to dismantle Voice of America … raised concerns that the United States is ceding ground to Russian and Chinese propaganda networks that have moved aggressively to fill the vacuum.”

(Gift link:)

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/u...

03.12.2025 15:54 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

We desperately need our jobs numbers. ADP is useful, but it is far from comprehensive. Flying data blind into economic headwinds and important policy decisions is a recipe for disaster.

03.12.2025 13:38 — 👍 44    🔁 14    💬 1    📌 0
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Pope Leo XIV given baseball bat owned by White Sox Hall of Famer Nellie Fox

During his first papal trip abroad, Pope Leo XIV was presented with a baseball bat once owned by legendary White Sox player Nellie Fox.

30.11.2025 20:01 — 👍 67    🔁 8    💬 1    📌 2
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The Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine

Between this, the financial scam guy, the J6ers and all the others, how about creating a nonpartisan pardons commission to make these decisions, rather than leaving it up to one person?

Gift link:

Ex-President Whom Trump Plans to Pardon Flooded America With Cocaine www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/n...

30.11.2025 18:29 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Trump Frees Fraudster Just Days Into Seven-Year Prison Sentence

He hurt thousands of people.
He finally was convicted, and went to prison on Nov. 14.
Trump set him free the day before Thanksgiving.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/u...

30.11.2025 17:45 — 👍 89    🔁 38    💬 6    📌 4
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Hometown 🎶

30.11.2025 03:49 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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30.11.2025 03:26 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Tryin’ ta forget the raging snowstorm and the bad news in the world by seeing Neal Francis and The Heavy Heavy at the Salt Shed

I think I’m the only person in Chicago who hadn’t yet been to the Salt Shed 😄

30.11.2025 03:26 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 2    📌 0
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Media Offenders Explore the Media Bias Tracker that fact checks and holds Fake News accountable. False claims debunked, Hall of Shame for serial offenders, Leaderboard of networks ranked by Repeated Lies. Stay inform...

Don't know whether this is new or has been up for awhile. Either way, when the White House creates a hit list of journalists it doesn't like, the free press is in danger. www.whitehouse.gov/mediabias/

29.11.2025 19:13 — 👍 698    🔁 265    💬 42    📌 47

Territory they hold? You mean Ukraine?

27.11.2025 22:40 — 👍 618    🔁 160    💬 35    📌 4
WSJ
Gentry Beach, a college friend of Donald Trump Jr. and campaign donor to his father, has been in talks to acquire a stake in a Russian Arctic gas project if it is released from sanctions. Another Trump donor, Stephen P. Lynch, paid $600,000 this year to a lobbyist close to Trump Jr. who is helping him seek a Treasury Department license to buy the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from a Russian state-owned company.

WSJ Gentry Beach, a college friend of Donald Trump Jr. and campaign donor to his father, has been in talks to acquire a stake in a Russian Arctic gas project if it is released from sanctions. Another Trump donor, Stephen P. Lynch, paid $600,000 this year to a lobbyist close to Trump Jr. who is helping him seek a Treasury Department license to buy the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from a Russian state-owned company.

One sign that he may be serious is that some of his most-trusted friends, sanctioned billionaires from his St. Petersburg hometown-Gennady Timchenko, Yuri Kovalchuk and the Rotenberg brothers, Boris and Arkady-have sent representatives to quietly meet American companies to explore rare-earth mining and energy deals, according to people familiar with the meetings and European security officials. That includes reviving the giant Nord Stream pipeline, sabotaged by Ukrainian tactical divers, and under European Union sanctions.
Earlier this year, Exxon Mobil met with Russia's biggest state energy company, Rosneft, to discuss returning to the massive Sakhalin gas project if Moscow and Washington gave the green light.

One sign that he may be serious is that some of his most-trusted friends, sanctioned billionaires from his St. Petersburg hometown-Gennady Timchenko, Yuri Kovalchuk and the Rotenberg brothers, Boris and Arkady-have sent representatives to quietly meet American companies to explore rare-earth mining and energy deals, according to people familiar with the meetings and European security officials. That includes reviving the giant Nord Stream pipeline, sabotaged by Ukrainian tactical divers, and under European Union sanctions. Earlier this year, Exxon Mobil met with Russia's biggest state energy company, Rosneft, to discuss returning to the massive Sakhalin gas project if Moscow and Washington gave the green light.

Extraordinary WSJ reporting today that unveils the extent to which Trump, Witkoff, Kushner and US business executives are salivating over business deals with Russia while Putin’s forces kidnap Ukranian children and bomb civilians in their apartments.

🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...

29.11.2025 12:42 — 👍 3061    🔁 1494    💬 108    📌 123
Secretary of W... * B
@SecWar
Follow
As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we've said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be "lethal, kinetic strikes." The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.

Secretary of W... * B @SecWar Follow As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland. As we've said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be "lethal, kinetic strikes." The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.

Hegseth: “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”

NYT: “The U.S. military does not know who specifically is being killed.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/u...

29.11.2025 06:09 — 👍 95    🔁 33    💬 5    📌 4
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Winter storm warning issued Saturday in Chicago; 6-10 inches of snow likely Snowfall is expected to begin Friday night and intensify Saturday morning, forecasters said. The rate of snowfall may peak at one inch per hour Saturday afternoon.
28.11.2025 15:06 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Babson student heading to Texas for Thanksgiving surprise deported to Honduras instead Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a business major at Babson, was swiftly deported in violation of a court order, her lawyer alleged.

College kid in the U.S. since childhood tries to fly home for Thanksgiving (on a domestic flight!) and is suddenly deported.
Makes you wonder about all the cases that don’t make the news.

www.boston.com/news/local-n...

27.11.2025 17:02 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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PHOTOS: A pair of snowy owls have taken roost of Montrose Harbor Beacon Pier, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. | Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

25.11.2025 23:44 — 👍 64    🔁 16    💬 2    📌 0

A classic from the Chicago Sun-Times ❤️

25.11.2025 05:08 — 👍 11    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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Holiday Shoppers Beware! Dangers Lurk in Buy Now, Pay Later and Deferred Interest Credit Card Offers As holiday shopping kicks into gear amid an affordability crisis, advocates warn shoppers to check twice before accepting financial promotions.

“Don’t let deceptive financial promotions with huge, delayed charges ruin your holidays,” said @chichiwu.bsky.social. "Don’t let predatory lenders put you on the hook for this year’s holiday spending into next year and beyond.” #ProtectConsumers #StopTheDebtTrap www.nclc.org/holiday-shop...

24.11.2025 14:09 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 1
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Opinion | Trump’s Neville Chamberlain Prize

NYT Opinion: A “filthy” deal for Ukraine

This was published before we found out Sec. of State Marco Rubio reportedly told U.S. senators the plan was a Russian wish list, not an American plan — which adds a whole new dimension to Friedman’s argument.

(Gift link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/o...

23.11.2025 16:01 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Remember: In 2022, as Russia stormed toward Kyiv, Biden urged Zelensky to flee while Europe's inaction piled on the ultimate pressure for Ukraine to surrender & capitulate. Ukraine persevered, defeating Russia in the Battle for Kyiv despite all odds.

23.11.2025 04:12 — 👍 389    🔁 97    💬 22    📌 8
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Terror charges in Blue Line fire attack Plus: A youth mentoring program faces defunding under Mayor Johnson's budget, clergy sue feds and more.

Good morning, Chicago. We've got a fresh @chicago.suntimes.com news roundup for you.

Today's lead: Terror charges in Blue Line fire attack chicago.suntimes.com/morning-edit...

20.11.2025 14:40 — 👍 6    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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“Ticking Time Bomb”: A Pregnant Mother Kept Getting Sicker. She Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas. Walker is one of several women ProPublica found with underlying health conditions who died when they couldn’t access abortions.

Heartbreaking and infuriating ProPublica story from Texas about yet another woman who died because she was severely ill and couldn’t get an abortion.

The law values the fetus more than the adult woman, and now neither are alive.

www.propublica.org/article/texa...

20.11.2025 05:23 — 👍 3    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 1
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Trump’s anti-press outburst hits differently with a Saudi prince by his side | CNN Business President Trump frequently demonstrates his disdain for journalists. He expresses his admiration for authoritarians almost as often. Tuesday showed how intertwined those two instincts really are.

About today...

Trump's anti-press outburst hits differently with a Saudi prince by his side

19.11.2025 03:38 — 👍 286    🔁 55    💬 35    📌 8

I can’t get over that “piggy” comment.
Are there any Bluesky journalists who were present when it was said?
Were you too shocked to push back?
Did you think you misheard it?
I’m genuinely curious.

19.11.2025 05:40 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Mary Bruce of ABC News doing her job, fearlessly
#journalism

18.11.2025 20:46 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Justice Department official told prosecutors that U.S. should 'just sink' drug boats NPR interviews with current and former officials reveal more of the backstory around the military's strikes in the Caribbean.

Trump's homicides in the first degree: Extrajudicial killings came up at Feb DOJ gathering. Bove's remarks, which have not previously been publicly reported, suggest at least some members of the administration were considering this policy shift as early as six months before the boat strikes began

17.11.2025 14:14 — 👍 37    🔁 13    💬 2    📌 1

Unreal.

16.11.2025 06:15 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

That season in Chicago where you can see a guy in shorts with a woman in a parka, and the houses are festooned in Halloween, Thanksgiving and/or Christmas decorations 🍂

14.11.2025 21:05 — 👍 6    🔁 1    💬 2    📌 0
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Memo Blessing Boat Strikes Is Said to Rely on Trump’s Claims About Cartels

80 people so far

“…the memo contradicts a broad range of critics, who have rejected the idea that there is any armed conflict and have accused Mr. Trump of illegally ordering the military to commit murders.”

(Gift link)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...

14.11.2025 03:07 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

For people outside Chicago, this is a remarkable roster of retired Chicago TV news people

13.11.2025 20:16 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Panoramic View of the Northern Lights last night over the Chicago Skyline.

12.11.2025 12:14 — 👍 572    🔁 145    💬 12    📌 10

@szreports is following 20 prominent accounts