Will Craft

Trump wins his peace prize from Fifa – any chance of a VAR review? At a gaudy and gauche World Cup draw, Gianni Infantino went all out to flatter the world’s most precious ego

David Smith, unsurprisingly, cooked with this scene piece.

"To the surprise of no one, Donald Trump won the inaugural Fifa peace prize on Friday at a cheesy, gaudy and gauche World Cup draw expertly designed to flatter the world’s most precious ego." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Best Podcasts of 2025 Some of the medium’s all-time best shows ended, but a crop of new contenders is keeping meaningful audio alive.

Some great podcasts on the New Yorker's list of best podcasts of 2025: www.newyorker.com/culture/2025...

I played a very small role doing some research for A Tiny Plot when I was freelancing, really glad to see people listening

‘I can’t get a single present’: millions in US barely scraping by amid holidays As of November, 15.6 million workers in the US are still affected by the pandemic’s economic downturn

I am looking to speak with individuals about their affordability concerns and issues they're experiencing this holiday season and the impact on their families.

Please reach out to me at Michael.Sainato@TheGuardian.com or direct message me here.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021...

Palestinian-American teenager held in Israeli prison freed after nine months Israeli soldiers had taken Mohammed Ibrahim from his home in a night raid when he was only 15 years old

ICYMI: This is such important reporting by @jgedeon.bsky.social at the Guardian on the American teenager who was held in an Israeli prison until last week www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

How the dollar-store industry overcharges cash-strapped customers while promising low prices A Guardian investigation reveals Dollar General and Family Dollar stores often fail to honor their shelf prices – charging more at checkout for everything from frying pans to Frosted Flakes

Good Guardian reporting:
How the dollar-store industry overcharges cash-strapped customers while promising low prices
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

ICE Arrested and Separated Chinese Father From 6-Year-Old Son, Advocates Say The father and son were detained at an ICE check-in on Nov. 26, advocates say. The son’s location is currently unknown, while the father is being held at an upstate ICE facility.

A 6-year-old boy is missing after ICE arrested him and his dad in NYC last week and shipped them off to separate facilities. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/02/i... @thecity.nyc @gwynnefitz.bsky.social

time to see if the data loaders that I wrote several months ago are still working...

New Deportation Data Project data is out, with arrests and detentions through Oct 15 2025

Federal immigration enforcement officials called off a planned raid on Canal Street today shortly before it was slated to begin.

New Yorkers who heard about the raid showed up at the garage where the feds had gathered, and as federal agents tried to leave, the NYPD cleared the way for them.

Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.

🎁 wapo.st/49KbUJ1

Wow I love watching Pluribus

Deposition of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino went off the rails at hello, transcript shows A full transcript of Cmdr. Gregory Bovino’s deposition has been made public in an ongoing lawsuit accusing federal immigration agents of routinely violating a restraining order on tactics in …

Deposition of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino went off the rails at hello, transcript shows

I provide three different datasets: one based on individuals booked into custody, one based on ICE arrests, and one based on the currently detained population. ALL three prove ICE is lying about focusing on the "worst of the worst" cato.org/blog/5-ice-d...

1/2 of detainees had no criminal conviction or even pending charges, which are often minor and do not end with a criminal conviction. ICE often arrests these people, actively thwarting their ability to clear their names cato.org/blog/5-ice-d...

NEW data I've received: Just 5% of people detained by ICE since October 1 have had violent criminal convictions, 3/4 had no criminal convictions at all. Most "criminals" had immigration, traffic, and vice offenses. Not the "worst of the worst"...

Chart showing the number of people in detention by criminal history, with no criminal record now the largest group

ICE continues arresting and detaining increasing numbers of people who have never been charged with a crime. This is a massive change from even one year ago

Total arrests 289,890 Up 61,800 since the last release People currently in detention 65,140 Up 5,370 Total deportations 290,600 Up 56,390

The Guardian is tracking the Trump administration's campaign of mass deportation.

Since Trump was inaugurated, ICE and CBP:
- arrested nearly 290,000 people
- deported more than 290,000 people

As of Nov 17, 65,000 people are in immigration detention, an all time high

Opinion | ‘We Had No Idea What Was Coming’: Caring for My Aging Father

Every person I know who is roughly my age is dealing with something like this right now www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o...

Driven by financial incentives, Kentucky ICE arrests ramp up Yet, more than 70% of those arrested had no criminal conviction.

ICE arrests in Kentucky are up nearly 40% this year, driven in part by financial incentives and expanding 287(g) agreements. Over 70% of those arrested had no criminal conviction.
@forwardky.bsky.social

Read about it here: www.forwardky.com/driven-by-fi...

ICE arrest were (probably) the highest ever during the first month of the new fiscal year in October when the agency made over 41,641 arrests. Many of these arrests were in Chicago, where a judge found many of the arrests to violate consent decree.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/breaking-i...

This Arsenal Spurs game is nuts, hot damn

Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world A year-long investigation reveals how mothers lost children after being radicalised by uplifting podcast tales of births without midwives or doctors

Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Green card holder held at Logan airport for 12 days set for move to Maine A Cape Verdean mother from Rhode Island has spent nearly two weeks in detention at Boston’s Logan airport. The federal government now plans to move her to a facility in Maine, as a court deadline expi...

“A Cape Verdean mother from Rhode Island has spent nearly two weeks in detention at Boston's Logan airport. The federal government now plans to move her to a facility in Maine, as a court deadline expires for officials to explain why she remains in custody.”

as always, with the incredible José Olivares

Tens of thousands of people were detained and deported during US government shutdown As most government business halted during the shutdown, immigration agents continued their raids

My latest: The latest detention management figures are out, covering the entire shutdown.

While federal workers were furloughed, ICE arrested and detained approximately 54,000 people and deported approximately 56,000 people.

Reflections On Five Years In Worker-Owned Media | Defector As I finally got to work on writing Defector’s fifth Annual Report, I found myself noodling on some broader thoughts about the worker-owned media landscape. Tom said some sections would work as a stan...

This is such a great write-up: defector.com/reflections-...

New: Reuters has tallied job losses, suspensions and investigations stemming from the reaction to Charlie Kirk's Sept. 10 assassination. Its findings: More than 600 Americans have been punished, and the figure is likely to be an under-count.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Mahmood Mamdani on Zohran, Uganda and forced expulsion: ‘Who is part of the nation and who is not?’ After being expelled from his homeland in 1972, the academic has grappled with questions of political belonging – a major theme of his son’s mayoral campaign

I spoke to Mahmood Mamdani about his new book, his expulsion from Uganda, his son Zohran, and *that* NYT article.

Governments and voters are both reacting to algorithm-shaped “public opinion,” not grounded priorities. Immigration feels urgent because platforms amplify fear, pulling parties into hollow performances of toughness. The far right reads that drift as confirmation it’s winning.

North Carolina GOP Is Cracking Down on the Black Sheriffs Who Stood Up to ICE Boosted by new supermajorities, Republicans are closing in on legislation to mandate more collaboration with ICE and preempt local policies hard-won by immigrants’ rights advocates.

“When the 8 African American sheriffs took over the largest counties in North Carolina, it became a threat to the good ol’ boy system,” says the sheriff of Charlotte. These new sheriffs broke ties with ICE.

But GOP lawmakers cracked down this week, overbidding the governor’s veto to adopt this law: