Anisa Khalifa

Arduous and Unequal: The Fight to Get FEMA Housing Assistance After Helene An analysis by ProPublica and The Assembly of the more rural counties in North Carolina hardest hit by Helene shows that the households that got the most aid tended to have the highest incomes.

NEW: Income isn’t supposed to play a role in how much housing assistance FEMA gives families.

But in some North Carolina counties, the highest-income homeowners received two to three times as much money after Hurricane Helene as those with lower incomes.

With @theassemblync.bsky.social

GROSS: After you profiled Kirk, and I think that was published back in February, you stayed in touch with him. And I think you were texting each other the day before he was killed. DRAPER: That's correct. I'll tell you also, Terry, that the story, as you say, was published in February of this year. But I would say for a full year prior to that, Kirk and I had been getting to know each other, and he would often reach out to me. And I thought this was an interesting aspect to Kirk, that he would reach out to me just to run things by me. Not asking so much for my opinion - because, as a journalist, I couldn't give it - but just as a reality check, he'd say, I'm hearing from the right that this particular viewpoint is prevalent from the left. Am I just living in a bubble, or is that true? GROSS: How would you respond to that? DRAPER: Well, sometimes I would say, you know, I think what you're hearing you're hearing from the right-wing media ecosystem, and it's not supported by reality as I understand it. And he would take that and be grateful for it. There was also a time I reached out to him, I remember, to say, I'd like to talk to you off the record about the religious context in which so many people in the MAGA community are viewing Donald Trump. Can you explain to me how they see him as this sort of flawed vessel, like King David or something? And he was very fluent in describing that to me.

And so we had that kind of back-and-forth well predating the publication of the story, and continued to since then. I had dinner with him in D.C. once, I think, a couple of months before he was killed, and I remember he brought security with him. They sat at the bar. And he seemed very casual about it, which is not to say that he was utterly unconcerned. But it was essentially the cost of doing business, that that was just the world that we were in. I was texting with him the day before the assassination because I wanted to come to Arizona and have dinner with him and his wife to catch up on various things. But also, there's a major magazine project that I'm beginning. And I wanted Kirk's thoughts about it, but not on the phone and not in writing. It just required a face-to-face. And he wrote back saying, absolutely. We would love to have you over for dinner. Just pick a date in September. And I think I sent, a few hours later, the text, how about September 23? And obviously, I never heard back.

Yesterday Fresh Air did an interview with Robert Draper, who has covered Charlie Kirk. And this section on Draper's relationship with Kirk said a lot to me about modern access journalism, and the soft coverage we've seen in the wake of Kirk's death.

The rock that runs the world Arguably the most important mine in the world is located in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. And we don’t have a backup.

today on The Broadside: how a rock from western NC is key to making basically every semiconductor in the world…and why it’s important to know where all the raw materials we need for our stuff actually comes from. featuring @edconway.bsky.social

www.wunc.org/podcast/the-...

Here’s I wrote about gamergate 11 years ago. Almost nobody major in the media got what this was or why it mattered. “Eh, it’s just nerdy Online Drama.” The difference now? The cluelessness remains, fewer publications & reporters—& gamergate took over the country. www.huffpost.com/entry/anita-...

“What the sustained quoting of dehumanizing language makes exceedingly clear is that newsrooms are not in the habit of reflecting on past coverage, particularly when it comes to critiques of how they covered immigrants, foreigners, or foreign policy.“

The Belichick effect and the money-sucking machine of college football College football has become a money-sucking machine, with schools spending every dollar possible to keep up in an athletics arms race.

This week, The Broadside tackled… what else? The Belichick effect.

Big thanks to @scottdochterman.bsky.social and @themhartman.bsky.social for explaining the money-sucking machine behind college athletics. And why winning may not matter when you can’t lose in college football.

I'm starting to look into how inflammation is being misused by MAHA types in a way that very much distracts from chronic illness-inflammation problems people actually have. If you're an academic, doctor, immunologist etc with thoughts on this, please be in touch at jmetraux@motherjones.com

say what you will about the merits or downsides of an entire publication devoted to liberalism, the dominant ideology of Western polities…but it’s just sloppy journalism to equate liberalism with “the left”. also note that the only place Semafor uses “the left” is in its headline and lede…

this is literally just racism

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

i distinctly remember a decade+ ago when all the creative jobs started going out the window being told to “learn to code”

a black kitten in a pile of autumn leaves

here’s my baby

How much of Gaza is left standing? Analysis by independent researchers reveals the scale of the destruction

“The studies imply estimated [Gaza] life expectancy has fallen by more than 35 years, to ~ half the pre-war figure. In percentage terms…bigger than…during China’s Great Leap Forward; in absolute terms it is similar to the one in the Rwanda genocide” www.economist.com/interactive/...

Adopt A Station - Rescue Public Media Help preserve independent journalism and community programming across America by adopting a public media station. Congress has voted to rescind public media's funding.

Adopt a station allows you to donate to your local public radio station: Here's the North Carolina list.
adoptastation.org/northcarolina

To state the obvious, Western journalists, writers, and filmmakers need to talk more about our colleagues being murdered in Gaza and the West Bank. You can do it from pure self interest if you want: every journalist murdered with impunity is a precedent which is headed in your direction

wow a quintessential example of ID verification data weaponized, there have been other breaches but this feels exactly targeted at the women it was supposed to protect

a hard but essential read. I’m so glad we could run this piece from Tyler, and at the same time when so many are warning of mass starvation in Gaza. as Dr. Adil Husain told @tylerfromtexas.bsky.social “This is a man-made starvation.”

Where the Devil is in the dirt Why has a barren patch in the woods become one of North Carolina’s most enduring legends?

feels like a particularly meaningful week to do a collab with PBS North Carolina. today on the Broadside from @wunc.org: the lore & facts on the Devil’s Tramping Ground, a bare patch of earth in Chatham Co. that’s been associated with rumors of the occult for centuries www.wunc.org/podcast/the-...

we’ve lost federal funding, but we’re still here, still reporting. and your support is more important than ever. today is the last day of our emergency drive. thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has donated or upped your support so far! to contribute, you can go to wunc.org or call 800-962-9862 💚

whether that’s providing folks with breaking news and useful information about the world and their local area, facilitating emergency communications during disasters, or telling long form stories about our home like we do on The Broadside, public radio is a common good for everyone.

our station back then was @wunc.org & my parents are still sustainers 26 years later (with some breaks in between when they moved away). my dad works in Qatar right now but he still has WUNC playing on his phone all night. even before I joined WUNC, I always appreciated what public radio brings us…

I started listening to NPR when we moved to NC in 1998 and my dad would have it on in the car on morning commutes to school. we moved here here from Canada & were big on the CBC, so listening to & supporting public media in NC, too, was a no brainer.

Due to the rescission of federal funding, North Carolina Public Radio is facing a major budget shortfall (roughly $800k). @wunc.org is the largest nonprofit newsroom in the state but also home to national programming. If you care about quality journalism, please give what you can www.wunc.org/donate

Without immediate intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die - AFP, July 21, 2025 AFP has been working with one freelance writer, three photographers, and six freelance videographers in the Gaza Strip since the departure of its staff journalists in 2024. Along with a few others, they are now the only ones reporting what is happening in the Gaza Strip. The international press has been banned from entering the territory for nearly two years. We refuse to see them die. One of them, Bashar, has worked for AFP since 2010, first as a fixer, then as a freelance photographer, and since 2024 as the main photographer. On Saturday, July 19, he managed to post a message on Facebook: "I no longer have the strength to work for the media. My body is thin and I can no longer work."

Bashar, 30, works and lives in conditions equal to those of all Gazans, moving from one refugee camp to another as Israeli bombardments dictate. For over a year, he has lived in absolute destitution and works at enormous risk to his life. Hygiene is a major problem for him, with periods of severe intestinal illness. Bashar has been living in the ruins of his Gaza City home since February with his mother, his four siblings, and the family of one of his brothers. Their house is devoid of any amenities or comforts, except for a few cushions. On Sunday morning, he reported that his older brother had "fallen from hunger." Even though these journalists receive a monthly salary from AFP, there is nothing to buy, or only at exorbitant prices. The banking system has disappeared, and those who exchange money between online bank accounts and cash charge a commission of nearly 40%.

AFP no longer has the means to have a vehicle, let alone the fuel to allow its journalists to travel for their reports. Traveling by car is tantamount to running the risk of being a target for the Israeli air force. AFP reporters therefore travel on foot or by donkey cart. Ahlam, for her part, survives in the south of the enclave. And she is determined to "bear witness" for as long as possible. "Every time I leave the tent to cover an event, conduct an interview, or document a story, I don't know if I'll come back alive." The biggest problem, she confirms, is the lack of food and water. We see their situation worsening. They are young, and their strength is failing them. Most no longer have the physical ability to travel the enclave to do their job. Their heartbreaking pleas for help are now daily.

Over the past few days, we have understood from their brief messages that their lives no longer depend on much and that their courage, devoted for many months to informing the whole world, will not help them survive. We risk learning of their deaths at any moment, and it's unbearable. This Sunday, Bashar wrote: "For the first time, I feel defeated." Later that day, he told one of us that he thanked him "for explaining what we live daily between death and hunger." "I wish Mr. Macron could help me get out of this hell." Ahlam is still standing. "I try to continue practicing my profession, to carry the voice of the people, to document the truth in the face of all attempts to silence it. Here, resistance is not a choice: it's a necessity." Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us remembers seeing a colleagues die of starvation.

“Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us remembers seeing our colleagues die of starvation.”

The AFP news release has been released in French. Below is an English translation via Google translate.

On a post from November 5th, 2024, when then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ X account was encouraging people to vote, the alleged hacker’s account replied, “You will be executed.” The next post after that was “kill them all please, mr president.” When another X account asked the Anime Nazi if they were concerned about law enforcement, they replied with a quote of a post from President Donald Trump: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”

We have a @lopatto.bsky.social piece on the hacker who breached Columbia and acquired Zohran Mamdani's college application. It's not great for NYT to be using hacked materials originating from an anime Nazi but this part especially stuck out to me. www.theverge.com/cyber-securi...

this is North Carolina service journalism

Great thread on the value of public media in state government coverage, particularly in #ncpol #ncga where there are three of us (two backed by a grant from the now-defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting) keeping tabs on everything at the state capital for audiences from Murphy to Manteo

Public media is one of those wildly imperfect, flawed, muddled institutions of American life that is far more beautiful and fortunately far tougher than people realize.

Pitch Callout Nº 4 The world (service) needs you 🫵

A new window for pitching audio documentaries is now open!

Read more about this opportunity and find out how to pitch at the link below ⤵️

This year I’m interested in getting more pitches from writers & journalists outside the audio world. So please share with your network of freelance friends!

always appreciate your work, Amanda!