Sarah Szilagy 🌱

Project 2025's plan to dismantle public education—and screw over disabled kids Nearly nine million students rely on DOE-backed disability accommodations.

This article I had published at @motherjones.com in January feels very relevant with federal special ed office layoffs. Project 2025 targeted disability education services. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

How The Trump Admin's Attack on Higher Education and DEI Are Impacting Campuses Several colleges throughout the United States have eliminated funding, offices, and even staff associated with "DEI" — inspired in part by the Trump administration’s bluster.

Mary Retta on the Trump admin's attacks on higher ed and diversity itself, from the "compact" to their hostility enabling colleges to seemingly stonewall their unions and dispose of roles @teenvogue.com

"I think the numbers of Black and certain other minoritized students and faculty will decrease.”

Sam Bankman-Fried and the multibillion-dollar drama over FTX’s ruins In exclusive prison interviews, the convicted crypto king is still fighting to control the narrative ahead of a high-stakes appeal.

“We were treated like digital peasants.”

What happened after FTX’s collapse? Read @revealnews.org's investigation into the untold tale of a bankruptcy that has ballooned into one of the biggest in US history, and the lawyers and opportunists who have profited from the carnage.

Sam Bankman-Fried recounts FTX’s collapse and why he feels he was wrongly convicted of fraud Through exclusive prison interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried and others, we put fresh eyes on the dramatic collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

FTX’s collapse wasn’t just about Sam Bankman-Fried. It’s about billions in customer money, a high-powered law firm steering the case, and who really profits when companies implode.

🎧 Listen to part 1 of our new series with @motherjones.com:

Kafka-land at UC Berkeley The 160 members of the university notified that their names were forwarded to the DOE's Office for Civil Rights were not informed of any specific allegations against them.

"Of course, I am not K, but I find myself uncannily identified with his predicament." Judith Butler's open letter to UC Berkeley.

Both the Left and Right are targeted by political violence. Who perpetrates it? "What really connects these folks is not a coherent ideology."

"It is often the case that the individuals who commit political violence in this country have incoherent ideological backgrounds. They don’t have clear manifestos, nor do they come from a background that signals attachment to one party or the other." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The U.S. says it will burn $9.7 million of birth control. Its fate is still unclear Questions about their fate swirled after the government's July deadline for destruction came and went. Then came a false report they'd been incinerated. Aid groups say it's not too late to save them.

Questions about their fate swirled after the government's July deadline for destruction came and went. Then came a false report they'd been incinerated. Aid groups say it's not too late to save them.

My story on (some of) the misinformation in the last 48 hours:

This is from my last story as a fellow at Mother Jones. As someone who arrived at journalism via career switch, I've used it as a vehicle to reflect on questions in my own life—namely, what family, community, and solidarity mean to me. A little on the ones I’m most proud of below:

Rampant mosquitoes swarming the tents. Leaks after summer rainstorms. Excessive heat. And hurricane season around the corner. This is life in "Alligator Alcatraz."

@lauracmorel.bsky.social reports:

Interest on student loans for low-income borrowers is about to skyrocket As Trump guts the SAVE program, "I feel like we're holding our breath while watching a train crash."

For my last story as a fellow at @motherjones.com, I got to do what I love most: Talk to regular people about the impacts federal policy has on their day-to-day lives. I'm so grateful to the people who shared their worries and stories of student debt with me. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

“Walking corpses”: Israel's blockade starves Gazans, aid groups say "People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses."

“Walking corpses”: Israel's blockade starves Gazans, aid groups say

“People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.”

Here's a rundown on what to know @motherjones.com. Be warned that the latest images we have from Gaza are disturbing.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Why This Guatemalan Family Is Hiding From ICE This Summer in St. Louis, Missouri They say returning to Guatemala isn’t an option — even if they are forced to.

"The Trump administration has increased travel bans, detention space and daily arrest goals. Elected officials have been wrestled to the floor and handcuffed... Meanwhile, millions of noncitizens remain in the shadows, wanting to be left alone to earn a better living for their families."

I appreciate you so much omg

The plot against vaccines Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies have hit on a way to undermine immunization.

How exactly will RFK Jr. and his allies wreck the US's vaccine infrastructure? From sabotaging the federal vaccine court to attacking the supply system, this is the plot to make Kennedy's anti-vaccine crusade our national nightmare.

"If he gets what he asks for, I hope he lives to regret it.”

are you enrolled in the SAVE plan for student loans and facing confusion or financial distress at the prospect of upcoming interest charges or changing loan repayment plans? I’d love to talk to you for @motherjones.com. reach me at sszilagy@cir.org or securely (info in my bio).

Is the FDA about to keep pregnant women from taking antidepressants? A panel of experts repeated what one women's health expert called "MAHA talking points."

New @motherjones.com: Is the FDA about to keep pregnant women from taking antidepressants?

Yesterday they quietly convened a panel whose participants suggested that women just feel emotions more deeply than men & that SSRIs cause autism (false).

Meanwhile, mothers' mental health is plummeting.

A tech CEO and a psychologist weigh in on AI chatbots : TED Radio Hour As AI infiltrates every aspect of our lives, who are some of the people behind this huge inflection point? In this special three-part series, you'll hear from the people predicting and shaping our tech future. Host Manoush Zomorodi reports on the latest and revisits her favorite conversations with the minds crafting the digital world we live in today: what they've gotten right — and wrong — and where they think we're headed next. Part 2 features Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman and MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle. For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR's Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub. TED Radio Hour+ subscribers now get access to bonus episodes, with more ideas from TED speakers and a behind-the-scenes look with our producers. A subscription also lets you listen to regular episodes (like this one!) without sponsors. Sign up at plus.npr.org/ted.

As CEO of Microsoft AI, Mustafa Suleyman wants everyone to have their own AI assistant. But MIT psychologist Sherry Turkle warns about forming emotional connections with AI.

This is part 2 of TED Radio Hour's "Prophets of Technology," featuring conversations with those crafting our digital world.

Some Texas Officials Didn’t Respond to Flood Alerts, Echoing the Tragedies of Hurricane Helene Weather warnings predicted devastation from both the Texas floods and Hurricane Helene. But in both disasters, people were left in harm’s way.

The National Weather Service sent urgent alerts about potentially life-threatening danger hours in advance of the flash floods, leaving time to try to evacuate those in harm’s way.

In Texas, some local officials did just that. But others did not.

Read @jenniferberryhawes.bsky.social's story:

The shocking rise of one of the tech right’s favorite posters After he leaked Zohran Mamdani’s Columbia application data to the New York Times, critics called Jordan Lasker a “eugenicist.” A Mother Jones report shows there’s much more to his backstory.

NEW: Jordan Lasker recently made news by leaking hacked admissions data about Zohran Mamdani.

Our investigation shows a Reddit user who posted highly specific details that fit with his offline life once wrote: “I actually am a Jewish White Supremacist Nazi.”

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

Shackled For Days and Weeks: A Federal Report Finds Widespread Abuse in Prisons The report, by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog, comes after an investigative series by The Marshall Project and NPR exposed similar abuses.

One person died in federal prison after being kept in restraints for over two days. Another was restrained so tightly that part of a limb had to be amputated.

A new report by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog comes after investigations by The Marshall Project & NPR exposed similar abuses.

An asylum seeker abandons her claim and leaves Trump’s America Kataleya Nativi Baca, permitted in 2021 to stay in the country while her claim was being decided, was awaiting an interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Powerful visual story about a transgender asylum seeker from Honduras who fled to the U.S. due to safety concerns—and is now fleeing because of Trump.

"The U.S. is no longer a free country,” she said. “When it changes, I’ll go back.”

www.washingtonpost.com/world/intera...

Shortly after President Trump was sworn in for his second term, videos of ICE raids began to surface across social media — from every corner of the U.S.
nbcnews.to/44XmEAO

Listen to the Trump-referencing Clipse track Universal Music allegedly tried to censor To stay in Trump's good graces, the label reportedly demanded cuts to the duo's collab with Kendrick Lamar—so they left.

New for @motherjones.com

“Rap music has provided opportunities for artists coming from marginalized backgrounds to express their hopes, their aspirations, but also their frustrations [and] their political views,” says Chad Williams.

www.motherjones.com/media/2025/0...

Ohio really is the heart of it all 😌

Hungary banned Pride events. Thousands marched anyway. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said those who attended should face “legal consequences.”

Budapest's streets overflowed with Pride marchers on Saturday, despite the Orban regime's threats of legal consequences. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The Grab - Reveal In this documentary, an investigative journalist uncovers the money, influence, and alarming rationale behind covert efforts to control the most vital resource on the planet.

🎉 The "holy shit documentary of the year" has another holy shit moment!

Very thrilled to announce that our colleagues at @revealnews.org have won an Emmy for their incredible documentary, The Grab.

Stream it now on Hulu!

Parental rights is a movement with deep roots. It's spreading nationwide. A no-guardrails version has become a cornerstone of Donald Trump’s authoritarian agenda.

seems prudent to remind people that I recently wrote about conservatives’ use of parental rights rhetoric as a means to a (largely white, largely religious) end. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

LGBTQ kids lose at the Supreme Court—and parental rights win "The damage to America’s public education system will be profound."

What counts as religious infringement? According to conservative Supreme Court justices, a child's mere exposure to teachings that run afoul of their parents' beliefs. The court today transformed religious freedom—and public schools—to the detriment of queer kids. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...