Erin Cunningham

The Rabbit Hole: Covering the Courts from a Windowless Office For more than a decade, Rachel Weiner, until quite recently a Washington Post journalist, chronicled the news involving the D.C. metropolitan area, which included stints at the Eastern District of Vir...

The Washington Post is down to *one* reporter covering all the local courthouses in the DMV. One. www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...

Washington Post layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, preliminary Guild data shows "We cannot ignore what this means for equity, representation, and the future of this organization."

The @washingtonpost.com layoffs disproportionately affected union members of color, per data from the @postguild.bsky.social.

50% of Hispanic/Latino guild members,​ 45% of Black members, and​ 43% of Asian members were laid off, compared to 37% of white members.

www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/wash...

Social Security Workers Are Being Told to Hand Over Appointment Details to ICE The recent request goes against decades of precedent, and puts noncitizens at further risk of immigration enforcement actions.

SCOOP: ICE is asking Social Security for peoples' in-person appointment dates and times, and SSA staff are being told to give it to them. From me + @leahfeiger.bsky.social + @zoeschiffer.bsky.social @wired.com

wired.com/story/social...

@ishaantharoor.bsky.social wrote The Washington Post's WorldView column for its flagship newsletter on international affairs. It had around half a million subscribers when management eliminated it — and Ishaan's position — last week. You can continue to follow his work by signing up here ⬇️

The fifth paragraph reads: “The newspaper’s duty is to its readers and to the public at large, and not to the private interests of its owners.”

Was going through some materials accumulated over my many years at The Washington Post, and I was struck by these words of wisdom from the legendary Eugene Meyer, particularly (in light of recent events) the fifth graf.

We Were a Breaking News Team On Losing My Job at the Washington Post

"We were the scrappy overnight newsroom of a major global media organization trying like hell to honor its reputation and give our readers a full picture of the world." @bartschaneman.bsky.social on The Washington Post eliminating its hub in Seoul. therepublicofletters.substack.com/p/we-were-a-...

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...

If only you still had a foreign desk to, well, know these things...

In so much of the analysis on Lebanon--be it on reconstruction or disarmament, we rarely get to hear the voices of those from South Lebanon. Deeply grateful to @timep.bsky.social Bassem Sabry Fellow Jad El Dilati for centering these perspectives in his latest analysis.

Don't miss it.

The Court, accordingly, ORDERS that: 1. Plaintiffs shall file under seal (but not ex parte) by February 20, 2026, a Notice indicating which Plaintiffs are currently in which third countries; 2. Plaintiffs shall by February 27, 2026, file a Notice noting the number of Plaintiffs who wish to travel independently to a U.S. port of entry or who wish to be flown from a third country to the United States for their court proceedings, understanding that in both scenarios they will be detained upon arrival. Plaintiffs shall simultaneously file a separate Notice under seal listing the names of such individuals; 3. Plaintiffs shall by March 9, 2026, file a Notice giving the number of Plaintiffs (in Venezuela or third countries) who wish to file supplements to their habeas class petition, including challenges to the Proclamation or their identification as TdA members. Plaintiffs shall likewise file a simultaneous Notice under seal listing those individuals’ names

The Government shall promptly return to Plaintiffs upon written request by their current counsel all passports and identification documents that any agency currently retains, and it shall make good-faith efforts to obtain any of Plaintiffs’ passports or identification documents that were transferred to El Salvador; and 5. The Government shall file a Status Report by March 13, 2026, explaining how and when it will transport any Plaintiff seeking return to the United States from a third country. In that Status Report, the Government shall also inform the Court as to the feasibility of returning Plaintiffs still in Venezuela who wish to return for their proceedings. It shall also describe the steps taken to obtain any passports or identification documents from El Salvador.

BREAKING

Judge Boasberg ORDERS the Trump admin to facilitate the return of the more than 100 men spirited out of the country last year without notice or a hearing.

Plaintiffs may also submit habeas petitions from abroad, he says.

Doc buff.ly/rccakD7

I just was shown a government document listing the 2025 salaries of Washington Post employees who were immigrants temporarily admitted to the United States under H1B visas. Their skills are considered "special." It lists their base yearly incomes, before bonuses, overtime, golden parachutes, or what have you. I scanned the list. The base salaries ranged from $60,000 for a designer to $223,000 for a vice president. Then I hit the outlier. It was $ 3 million. It went to a "CEO." There was only one of those in 2025, this guy:

That would be Will Lewis, the man whose two years of incompetent stewardship, editorial cowardice and less than ethical conduct brought The Washington Post to where it is today, a dreadfully diminished, professionally humiliated institution, drained overnight of nearly a third of its staff.

A former Washpost reporter learns that former CEO Will Lewis was paid $3 million.

By today’s corporate standards, that’s not an outlier salary for a company that size.

It is a lot to pay, though, for someone so flawed — ethically and strategically.

geneweingarten.substack.com/p/three-mill...

He literally says in this clip that ICE will keep in Minnesota “quick reaction forces” — a military term — to go after “agitators.” Remember that those on the ground in MPLS have spent more than a week trying to tell everyone that Trump’s prior “deescalation” was a ruse and ICE is still operational

The GOP’s “show us your papers” bill Is the latest effort to help Trump take over elections “If the SAVE Act were to pass, it would be the worst voter suppression law that Congress has ever enacted"

Breaking: House passes new version of SAVE Act, worst voter suppression bill considered by Congress. Could disenfranchise:

-21 million Americans w/out access to citizenship papers
-69 mil married women who took partner’s name
-21 mil w/out valid drivers license

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

A father in Gaza searches for his family's bones in the rubble of their home Mahmoud Hammad sifts through the rubble of his Gaza home, destroyed by an Israeli airstrike over two years ago.

Mahmoud Hammad sifts through the rubble of his Gaza home, destroyed by an Israeli airstrike over two years ago.

For years, the first newsletter I read after waking up & getting the kids to school was @ishaantharoor.bsky.social’s WorldView for the Washington Post. Nothing else in mainstream US media gave readers foreign perspectives on US news. Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis killed it. Today was its last edition.

Actually, the Washington Post Layoffs Were a Bigger Bloodbath Than You Thought - Washingtonian The layoffs announced last week at the Washington Post were disfiguring to the esteemed news organization, with whole sections and departments—sports, books, staff photography—wiped away, and devastat...

FYI, cuts affected nearly half of the newsroom (not one-third) washingtonian.com/2026/02/09/a...

One of every thousand American residents has been taken into custody by ICE in the last year.

the most important thing to understand about the Ring Cam ad that says they help find dogs is: we are all dogs

America’s Top 25 Philanthropists — And The Richest Not On the List MacKenzie Scott was the nation’s top philanthropist in 2025 and ranks third behind Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates in terms of lifetime giving.

Mackenzie Scott gave more in 2025 than Elon Musk, Larry Page, Larry Ellison and her ex-husband Jeff Bezos have in their lifetimes combined. www.forbes.com/sites/forbes...

This is why domestic "shuffle" flights between ICE detention centers have skyrocketed, much moreso than ICE deportation flights.

When you are moved to a different jurisdiction, you have to refile your habeas petition all over again. They want to wear people down so they'll give up on their cases.

The End of Books Coverage at the Washington Post Becca Rothfeld, a former critic at the Washington Post, on the death of the paper’s books section.

“A newspaper is—or ought to be—the opposite of an algorithm, a bastion of enlightened generalism in an era of hyperspecialization and personalized marketing … From now on, the Post will no longer accommodate the admirably omnivorous avidity of its best readers.” www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...

As AI enters the operating room, reports arise of botched surgeries and misidentified body parts Medical device makers have been rushing to add AI to their products. While proponents say the new technology will revolutionize medicine, regulators are receiving a rising number of claims of patient ...

It’s here! Some of the details are… 😳- www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Right!? I feel crazy…

As AI enters the operating room, reports arise of botched surgeries and misidentified body parts

Couldn’t we just … not do this?

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.

“There was zero plan, except causing pain,” said one U.N. official about the Trump administration’s decision to stop funding the group with no notice or communication. “And that is not forgivable.”

(Published Dec. 2025)

ICE activity is pushing readers to nonprofit news sites that cover immigrant communities From Somalis in Minneapolis to Nepalis in New York City, immigrant communities turn to trusted local news sources. Here's our regular ranking of the top 25 nonprofit news sites in the United States.

In October, the biggest percentage increase in traffic any nonprofit site saw was at NepYork, a site that covers the Nepali community in New York City, where visits skyrocketed from around 20,000 to 289,000. www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/ice-...

Actually, the Washington Post Layoffs Were a Bigger Bloodbath Than You Thought - Washingtonian The layoffs announced last week at the Washington Post were disfiguring to the esteemed news organization, with whole sections and departments—sports, books, staff photography—wiped away, and devastat...

As @postguild.bsky.social assesses the damage from last week’s layoffs, it turns out between 44% and 47.5% of the newsroom has been axed. It “may have been the biggest one-day wipeout of journalists in a generation.” washingtonian.com/2026/02/09/a...

Donate to Support for Washington Post international employees, organized by Michelle Lee Among the hundreds of journalists laid off by The Washington Post on … Michelle Lee needs your support for Support for Washington Post international employees

You can help cover rent, legal guidance, relocation to a new or safer country, and other urgent transition needs for former Washington Post international employees not covered by Guild protections, in places from Cairo to Mexico City. www.gofundme.com/f/support-fo...

Iranian forces massacred protesters fleeing burning market, witnesses say A rare detailed account of Iran’s crackdown, produced by The Post, reveals the brutality used by security forces in one of many such cities rocked by violence.

2. Just incredible, backbreaking work to do this sort of forensic investigation in general… to do it when there was no internet in Iran is staggering.

Please follow @ntabrizy.bsky.social and @yjtorbati.bsky.social

1. Would like to ask for a big favor.

Would love for you to please follow two Iranian women reporters who were just laid off from the Washington Post.

I will link to their latest investigation in the post below, but please follow @ntabrizy.bsky.social and @yjtorbati.bsky.social!!