WenHao

Posted this when VOA's fate was in limbo. Now that my time with the agency has been officially over and having spent a few months handling personal matters, I'm back to job hunting and open to any full time, part time and freelance opportunities that are either US based or remote. Send me a message!

Posted this when VOA's fate was in limbo. Now that my time with the agency has been officially over and having spent a few months handling personal matters, I'm back to job hunting and open to any full time, part time and freelance opportunities that are either US based or remote. Send me a message!

The SaveVOA account on X, which is part of Voice of America workers’ effort to rally the public to prevent the agency from being shut down by the Trump administration, has just been suspended by the social media platform for “violating rules against inauthentic accounts”.

Trump's attacks on Krebs only compound the stress at CISA: "'It’s a really tough time for all of us right now,” said [CISA] employee. 'Every day feels somehow more bizarre than the last. It is incredibly difficult to focus on our mission.'" www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...

THREAD: When @thekrebscycle.bsky.social and his workplace, @sentinelone.com, were singled out by Donald Trump on Wednesday, I thought it was an opportunity to weigh the cybersecurity industry's rhetoric against their real world actions.

Warfare was so intense from start to finish my back hurt afterwards

Trump has signed an EO to investigate and revoke the clearances of one of his top cybersecurity officials from the first admin, former CISA director Chris Krebs - who famously confirmed the integrity of the 2020 election.

Trump going after his former CISA director @thekrebscycle.bsky.social, who debunked his 2020 lies. He just ordered a probe of Krebs' leadership of CISA (including any "censorship"), revoked Krebs' clearances, and suspended those of his @sentinelone.com colleagues. www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...

Art of the deal suggests he can also pause the pause any time he wants

Yesterday, China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set. Therefore, if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter! 2.43k ReTruths 10.8k Likes Apr 07, 2025 at 8:14 AM

BREAKING

President Trump is threatening to slap an additional 50% tariff on China if it does not withdraw its retaliatory 34% tariff on the United States.

This would mean US tariffs on Chinese would be 104%

Me and My Censor | Made in China Journal When Liu Lipeng first contacted me in July 2020, I was still in China. I initially wanted to write this as a fictional short story, but I didn’t have the courage to do it at the time because it would ...

madeinchinajournal.com/2025/04/03/m...

Perhaps the deal will include some as-yet unannounced provisions to address the data issue; absent that, ByteDance would retain a 19.9 percent stake in the app, and would almost certainly continue to use Americans' data just as it does today. More importantly, ByteDance's algorithms — which members of Congress spoke of in near-mystical terms, terrified that (among other things) it might promote the spread of pro-Palestinian videos — would continue to fuel TikTok just as they always have. There is no evidence the Chinese government has used TikTok to spread propaganda, but licensing the app's algorithm to TikTok America would give them an avenue to do so. Mind you, I'm not even saying I found these arguments by members of Congress particularly persuasive. But this was their rationale for passing a law, and it now appears as if they are poised to pretend as if they never did.

Among the many other stupid things about today is that Trump's reported deal to save TikTok appears to let it keep running exactly as is without addressing the reasons Congress banned it in the first place www.platformer.news/trump-tariff...

lol what district elected a former Soviet assassin who killed JFK?

Global Times on X: "The #PLA Eastern Theater Command on Tuesday started joint exercises around Taiwan island. Shortly after, the command’s official WeChat account released a series of cartoons titled "Shell," depicting six major PLA weapons crossing the sea and encircling the Taiwan island. Military https://t.co/hxVnZTsPJi" / X The #PLA Eastern Theater Command on Tuesday started joint exercises around Taiwan island. Shortly after, the command’s official WeChat account released a series of cartoons titled "Shell," depicting six major PLA weapons crossing the sea and encircling the Taiwan island. Military https://t.co/hxVnZTsPJi

apologies for repost from the bad place, but PRC messaging around Taiwan-focused drills getting genuinely alarming. depicting the targets of military actions as insects or parasites a pretty classic precursor. x.com/globaltimesn...

I don't know how to feel about OpenAI removing restrictions on image generation

Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding to programs with 'improper ideology' President Donald Trump has issued an executive order on the Smithsonian Institution that targets funding to programs that contain what he calls “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”

BREAKING: President Donald Trump aims to reshape the Smithsonian museums and zoo with an order targeting funding to programs with "improper ideology."

This viral image of Pikachu appearing in the ongoing protests in Turkey is AI-generated and fake. An analysis by GetReal Labs found "strong evidence of synthesis", including distorted police labels.

There are genuine videos of Pikachu running from police in Antalya. But this viral image is fake.

Inside Maye Musk’s Cozy Relationship With China As Elon Musk continues to expand his political power in the US, his mother has repeatedly traveled to China to speak at events, model for Chinese brands, and promote Tesla.

So I dived deep into the online & offline activities of Maye Musk, Elon's mom. Here, she has immersed herself into the Trump power circles and partisan narratives; but in China, she's still the fashion influencer who visits "nearly every month" and poses with Chinese art and Tesla cars.

How Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China As a U.S. military contractor, SpaceX sees allowing Chinese ownership as fraught. But it will allow the investment if it comes through secrecy hubs like the Cayman Islands, court records say. “It is c...

NEW: How Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a major military contractor, secretly allows investment from China.

Court records reveal execs there see $ from China as fraught but will let it in if it comes through secrecy hubs like the Caymans.

www.propublica.org/article/elon...

w/ @josh-kaplan.bsky.social

TikTok has a Spanish-language fake news problem 🤥 Faked Up #42: Fake Telemundo accounts spread fake green card news; JFK archive declassification spurs conspiracy theories; and Italian savings rumors target EU rearmament plan Hey, if FU#41 didn't ...

TikTok deleted 25 videos that I flagged were falsely claiming green card holders had been banned from entering or leaving the United States starting on March 21st.

The videos had been seen more than 21 million times.

fakedup.org/tiktok-has-a...

This justification should set off a warning bell for anyone concerned about protecting freedom of expression in the U.S. There is effectively no limiting principle around speech that would allegedly “undermine diplomatic efforts.” Can legal immigrants in the United States discuss human rights violations in Xinjiang or Hong Kong, even though doing so could theoretically imperil tariff talks or trade negotiations with China? What about criticism of the notion that Canada should become the “51st state”? Can Ukrainian immigrants criticize the actions of President Vladimir Putin while the U.S. is involved in talks between Russia and Ukraine?

There is no real limiting principle on the basis the Trump admin is using to justify deportation of legal immigrants. Can immigrants talk about human rights in China without "undermining" American foreign policy? Or mock Putin? Or criticize the "51st state" rhetoric? www.thefire.org/news/should-...

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

China's Ministry of Public Security are hiring news editors. And the criteria are fascinating.

+*Male only*
+Beijinger only
+Loyal to the Party (obv)
+Can't have studied/lived abroad for 6 months.
+No relative living abroad or married to a foreigner.

And that's the start. 1/3

Kari Lake sent me this reply to my request for comment on the lawsuit filed against her:

“Kari Lake does not grant interviews or interact with disreputable ‘news’ outlets like NPR.”

USAGM cannot suspend or eliminate any “program, project, or activity,” and it cannot close or downsize any “bureaus, centers, or offices,” unless it gives the congressional appropriations
committees at least 15 days’ advance notice, the lawsuit writes.

Journalists, Federal Workers, and Unions File Lawsuit to Challenge Closure of U.S. Agency for Global Media The U.S. Agency for Global Media violated the First Amendment, separation of powers, appointments clause, and several laws when it suspended nearly all operations, says a new complaint filed by unions...

Multiple VOA reporters and outside organizations today filed a lawsuit against Kari Lake and USAGM, seeking “immediate relief to reverse the shuttering of the U.S. Agency for Global Media” and to reinstate affected workers. www.afscme.org/press/releas...

FCC Council on National Security

The investigation announced today by the FCC is the first action taken by the newly formed Council on National Security. The council was established earlier this month by chairman Brendan Carr to focus particularly on China. www.fcc.gov/fcc-council-...

The US is moving very, very slowly away from Huawei So far only 12% of the companies in the FCC's Huawei 'rip and replace' program have finished their work. Meanwhile, the US military is struggling to implement a full ban on connections to Huawei suppo...

The US previously banned new use authorizations of equipment manufactured by these companies and has been running programs to replace existing ones, although in some cases the progress has stalled. www.lightreading.com/security/the...