Alex Wayne

NEW: DOJ told a judge in New Jersey that it had violated court orders about 54 times between Dec. 5 and this week — the latest accounting of a phenomenon that used to be rare and is now rampant. www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

New Flu Vax? FDA Says No Thanks - KFF Health News It’s been a busy week at the FDA, with a political appointee overruling agency scientists to reject an application for a new flu vaccine. Meanwhile, anti-abortion Republicans on Capitol Hill complain ...

Moderna spent years and $1 billion studying a new mRNA flu vaccine for adults. Now, the FDA is refusing to review it.

“How do we expect companies to invest in new medicines like this if the FDA is basically acting on vibes?” asks @julierovner.bsky.social.

Listen for more on this week's news🎧 ⤵️

Gabbard Whistleblower Complaint Based on Intercepted Conversation About Jared Kushner The substance of the conversation, which covered in part issues related to Iran, isn’t known.

News: The top-secret whistleblower complaint against Tulsi Gabbard is related to a conversation intercepted last spring in which two foreign nationals discussed Jared Kushner, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

The fact that James Van Der Beek had to auction off memorabilia from his movies just broke me. It shouldn't be like this, not for beloved stars, not for anyone.

ICE is cracking down on people who follow them in their cars Becky Ringstrom was heading home after following federal immigration officers in her gray Kia SUV in suburban Minneapolis when she was suddenly boxed in by unmarked vehicles.

ICE has been tracking the names of protesters in an internal database for several months, according to two US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operations reut.rs/46wwn1j

ICE's Masks Are All a Lie Working for ICE is actually less dangerous than being an elementary school student in America.

Here's what DHS doesn't want you to know: Working for ICE is one of the safest jobs in America — and last year was the second-safest year for the agency on record.

And the doxxing? It hasn't actually happened even once.

The masks are justified by a lie. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/ice-s-mask...

ICE chief refuses to apologize for Minneapolis shooting victims being labeled terrorists

The high wouldn’t last. Seahawks safety Julian Love soon intercepted a throw from New England quarterback Drake Maye, and the Patriots never recovered. In the end, Kane lost a bit less than $100,000 in bets that favored the Patriots. “What are you gonna do about it? You get very numb to these kinds of numbers,” said Kane, who works out of his one-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia.

In the future we're gonna look back at online gambling and prediction markets in the same way we look now at cigarettes on airplanes and lead-based paint

www.wsj.com/business/med...

NEW: The Justice Department unit responsible for pursuing potential wrongdoing by law enforcement, including during the crackdown in Minneapolis, has lost two-thirds of its prosecutors and is under orders to scale back its investigations of excessive force.

www.reuters.com/world/justic...

continue to think that if instead of "raw milk" we called it "doodoo milk" people would understand the risk proposition

“Unconscionable,” Jon thought as he found an email address online for the lead prosecutor, Joseph Dernbach, who was named in the story. Peering through metal-rimmed glasses, Jon opened Gmail on his computer monitor. “Mr. Dernbach, don’t play Russian roulette with H’s life,” he wrote. “Err on the side of caution. There’s a reason the US government along with many other governments don’t recognise the Taliban. Apply principles of common sense and decency.” That was it. In five minutes, Jon said, he finished the note, signed his first and last name, pressed send and hoped his plea would make a difference. Five hours and one minute later, Jon was watching TV with his wife when an email popped up in his inbox. He noticed it on his phone. “Google,” the message read, “has received legal process from a Law Enforcement authority compelling the release of information related to your Google Account.”

A retiree wrote this email to a DHS attorney. Within five hours, DHS demanded Google turn over records for his account.

A Kafkaesque form of domestic surveillance, intimidating Americans for lawful speech.

New from us at the Post: www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio... @johnwoodrowcox.bsky.social

Having a body cam is just the first step. You also gotta turn it on and release the footage.

DHS has footage of Alex Pretti's killing. Yet it won't even say whether it's own investigators have it.

www.propublica.org/article/alex...

Priced Out - KFF Health News Skyrocketing health care costs and insurance premiums combined with congressional inaction have forced a perilous decision upon many people: Pay higher prices for health insurance or go uncovered. KFF...

Does your health insurance now cost more than your mortgage? Or did you drop your coverage altogether this year?

We want to hear from you. Check out our new series, Priced Out, and tell us about your own experience trying to pay for health care.

kffhealthnews.org/priced-out/

Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raym...

BREAKING: The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

Exclusive: key NIH review panels due to lose all members by the end of 2026 Thirteen of the agency’s advisory councils, which must review grant applications before funding is awarded, are on track to have no voting members.

🚨 New from me: Grant review at more than half of NIH's institutes could be frozen by the end of the year.

That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027.

A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications.

A short 🧵

Went to Terry Black's once at the advice of the Uber driver who picked me up at the airport. Good, but overpriced even for Austin. Plenty of other choices.

Farmers Now Owe a Lot More for Health Insurance - KFF Health News More than a quarter of the agricultural workforce purchases health insurance through the individual marketplace, a much larger share than the overall percentage of U.S. adults. After a tough year for ...

The loss of enhanced ACA subsidies, coupled with the challenging economic conditions, has made health coverage unaffordable for many farmers. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Musk’s Chatbot Flooded X With Millions of Sexualized Images in Days, New Estimates Show

We set out to determine how many images of women and girls Grok created during its nudifying spree. What we found was “industrial-scale abuse,” experts said. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/t...

ICE says it detains the "worst of the worst." Meet Liam Ramos, age 5.

Q: Did you uncover evidence to prove Trump knew his claim the election was stolen was false?

SMITH: Yes

Q: And Trump claimed it was stolen while he privately acknowledged he lost?

SMITH: Yes

Q: Yet on the 5th anniversary of J6, Trump still promoted the stolen election theory on a govt webpage

Top CDC vaccine adviser questions need for polio shot, other longstanding recommendations The chair of a federal vaccine advisory panel charted a new course for the committee in a podcast released Thursday, questioning longstanding recommendations.

The new chair of the #ACIP was on the Why Should I Trust You? podcast. The interview was ... enlightening. Among other things, Kirk Milhoan seemed to question whether kids still need to be vaccinated against polio & said he doesn't like “established science.” www.statnews.com/2026/01/22/v...

A thing to keep in mind here: This issue of ICE/DHS barring clergy from offering pastoral care or religious rites to detainees is triggering lawsuits, protests (with arrests of pastors) and blowback from *Pope Leo.*

Pazdur warns that politics, ‘chaos’ are damaging FDA At a STAT event, veteran drug regulator Richard Pazdur, who left the FDA last month after 26 years, said that politics and 'chaos' were damaging the agency.

Rick Pazdur, very briefly and until recently the FDA's top drug regulator, rang the alarm about political influence at the agency at a @statnews.com event.

At the end, he quipped: "I hope the IRS doesn’t come and audit me now.”

www.statnews.com/2026/01/13/r...

We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government ...

Immigration agents are choking people in America's streets & using tactics against their own policy/training. Many LEO agencies have banned their use

A Colombian TikToker. An ICU nurse. A father holding his child.

A 16-year-old citizen

DHS calls this "utmost professionalism"

w/ @mckenziefunk.com

Callaghan said that he asked if he was under arrest after officers asked for him to hand over his identification and his cellphone.

“And then they said to me, ‘Well, you’re white, you won’t be any fun anyway. You can get out of the car.’”

It's the 'gold standard' in autism care. Why are states reining it in? Budget shortfalls and nearly $1 trillion in looming federal Medicaid cuts have prompted states to rein in spending on a widely embraced autism therapy, pinching families who depend on the services.

NEW: While so much attention is being paid to possible *causes* of autism, states are starting to cut funding on *treatment* for kids who already have it.

I wanted to know why.

Read my latest with @arjonesreports.bsky.social

www.npr.org/sections/sho...

Congolese rape survivors search in vain for medicine after USAID cuts In eastern Congo, where rape is widespread, the cancellation of USAID funding for PEP kits has left many victims vulnerable, according to nearly 50 interviews.

In eastern Congo, where rape is widespread, the cancellation of USAID funding for life-changing — sometimes lifesaving — post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) kits has left many victims vulnerable, according to nearly 50 interviews.

After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death “Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.

Trump officials were warned repeatedly that cutting off food aid to refugees in Kenya would lead to violence and death. They did so anyway, and thousands starved. @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/keny...

NEW: Pardoned January 6 rioters have been advising Justice Department officials how to pursue – and perhaps prosecute – the very prosecutors who helped put them behind bars.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

With no extension of enhanced tax credits, ACA enrollees are going to start the year with premium payments increasing by an average of 114%, or over $1,000 a year per person. Some will find a way to pay it, some have switched to higher deductibles, and some have dropped coverage.