Sharon Lerner

the US sent us to El Salvador so that El Salvador could do the dirty work the US couldn't

YouTube video by ProPublica Beatings, Humiliation, Psychological Abuse: What Venezuelan Men Experienced Inside CECOT

prepare yourself before you watch this, but watch this 😞 www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KZR...

In Texas flood response, FEMA slowed by Noem’s cost controls | CNN Politics As monstrous floodwaters surged across central Texas late last week, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency leapt into action, preparing to deploy critical search and rescue teams and li...

devastating delays to get approval from Noem

www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/p...

The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Chaos to Come Climate change is making disasters more common, more deadly and far more costly, even as the federal government is running away from the policies that might begin to protect the nation.

www.propublica.org/article/texa...

the warming of the planet has scarcely begun

meanwhile, the Trump administration is revoking funding for the very data collection and research that would help the country better understand and prepare for this moment ..

by @abrahm.bsky.social

And about that letter... Looks like the EPA has put 144 those staff members on administrative leave for signing the letter

EPA Drops Legal Case Against the GEO Group, a Major Trump Donor, Over Its Misuse of Harmful Disinfectant in an ICE Facility A complaint filed under the Biden administration alleged that on more than 1,000 occasions in 2022 and 2023, the GEO Group had its employees use the disinfectant, which causes irreversible eye damage…

#ICYMI: The EPA withdrew a legal complaint filed last year against the GEO Group, a major Trump donor that has more than $1 billion in contracts with the administration to run private prisons and ICE facilities.

By @fastlerner.bsky.social and @lisalsong.bsky.social

Trump’s First EPA Promised to Crack Down on Forever Chemicals. His Second EPA Is Pulling Back. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims to prioritize combatting long-lasting chemicals called PFAS. Despite this, the agency has delayed enforcement of standards and terminated over $15 million in fundin...

“we’re walking backwards” on PFAS, as ‪@edonovan.bsky.social‬ puts it

great story by @annaleighclark.bsky.social

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Trump’s First EPA Promised to Crack Down on Forever Chemicals. His Second EPA Is Pulling Back. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims to prioritize combatting long-lasting chemicals called PFAS. Despite this, the agency has delayed enforcement of standards and terminated over $15 million in fundin...

NEW: I wrote about how the EPA during President Donald Trump’s first term vowed to combat the spread of PFAS nationwide.

But now, the second Trump EPA is pulling back -- and even terminating grants for PFAS research in places like Michigan, Texas, and Utah.

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations A dark money group paid $80,000 to Noem’s personal company when she was governor of South Dakota. She did not include this income on her federal disclosure forms, a likely violation of ethics requirem...

Wowser, this story: Kristi Noem Secretly Took Personal Cut of Political Donations @justinelliott.bsky.social @josh-kaplan.bsky.social @amierjeski.bsky.social

Support EPA Staff Now! — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE Your solidarity with the EPA heroes increases the pressure on their Administrator Lee Zeldin.

186 EPA employees boldly signed this declaration of dissent. (Lots of other people, too)
www.standupforscience.net/epa-declarat...

A Doctor Challenged the Opinion of a Powerful Child Abuse Specialist. Then He Lost His Job. A Minneapolis pediatrician said he felt pressured to “fall in line” with child abuse specialist Dr. Nancy Harper and her team. Then he was given a choice: resign or be fired.

A Minneapolis pediatrician said he felt pressured to “fall in line” with child abuse specialist Dr. Nancy Harper and her team. Then he was given a choice: resign or be fired. @jlussenhop.bsky.social

Kristi Noem Secretly Took a Cut of Political Donations A dark money group paid $80,000 to Noem’s personal company when she was governor of South Dakota. She did not include this income on her federal disclosure forms, a likely violation of ethics requirem...

www.propublica.org/article/kris...

in which we learn of "a likely violation of federal ethics requirements" by Kristi Noem

What Happened to the Women of #MeToo? Tina Johnson accused Roy Moore of sexual assault. Then the world moved on, and left her behind.

Sharing in case you haven't yet read this story, which captures violence and cruelty that was predictable and unsurprising and yet totally shocking

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Inside the Fight to Get Australia’s Monash University to Divorce Fossil Fuels for Good One of Australia’s most prestigious universities promised to divest from fossil fuels in 2016. It later revised this decision to say it would only divest from coal, allowing the country’s biggest oil ...

This @roycerk2.bsky.social story for @drilledmedia.bsky.social perfectly illustrates the reputation-washing benefit of university partnerships for fossil fuel companies. In this case, LNG giant Woodside gets to be the name of the cool, green, futuristic building on campus drilled.media/news/monash

ProPublica Sued the FDA for Withholding Records About the Safety of Generic Drugs The agency declined to quickly release documents that would identify drugs made at some of the most troubled foreign factories. The request was part of ProPublica’s ongoing investigation into the safe...

NEW: ProPublica has sued the FDA, accusing the agency of withholding information about the safety and availability of generic drugs critical to millions of Americans.

Donald Trump’s No. 2 Pick for the EPA Represented Companies Accused of Pollution Harm David Fotouhi, a lawyer who recently challenged a ban on asbestos, worked to roll back climate regulations and water protections while serving in the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s fir...

Yesterday, about a week after Fotouhi was confirmed as EPA deputy administrator, the EPA asked a court to pause its litigation over asbestos

www.propublica.org/article/davi...

Brad Lander Detained by Masked Federal Agents Inside Immigration Court The arrest came in his latest visit to the courthouse to speak with migrants there.

A reporter from The City had overheard one agent say to another minutes before Lander’s arrest, “Do you want to arrest the Comptroller?”

www.thecity.nyc/2025/06/17/b...

Hi, this is Meg Barnette, Brad's wife.

While escorting a defendant out of immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE.

This is still developing, and our team is monitoring the situation closely.

EPA Drops Legal Case Against the GEO Group, a Major Trump Donor, Over Its Misuse of Harmful Disinfectant in an ICE Facility A complaint filed under the Biden administration alleged that on more than 1,000 occasions in 2022 and 2023, the GEO Group had its employees use the disinfectant, which causes irreversible eye damage…

The EPA recently withdrew a legal complaint filed last year against the GEO Group, a major Trump donor that has more than $1 billion in contracts with the administration to run private prisons and ICE facilities.

By @fastlerner.bsky.social‬ and @lisalsong.bsky.social‬

Donald Trump’s No. 2 Pick for the EPA Represented Companies Accused of Pollution Harm David Fotouhi, a lawyer who recently challenged a ban on asbestos, worked to roll back climate regulations and water protections while serving in the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s fir...

oh - and this week the Senate confirmed David Fotouhi to be Deputy Administrator of EPA.

More about him - and his effort to overturn the agency's ban on asbestos - here

👇

www.propublica.org/article/davi...

EPA Drops Legal Case Against the GEO Group, a Major Trump Donor, Over Its Misuse of Harmful Chemicals in ICE Facilities A complaint filed under the Biden administration alleged that on more than 1,000 occasions in 2022 and 2023, the GEO Group had its employees use the disinfectant, which causes irreversible eye damage ...

The EPA just withdrew a complaint against a major Trump donor -- GEO Group, which runs ICE detention facilities. The company was spraying a disinfectant without proper protection onto beds and into *microwaves*; detainees reported skin rashes + difficulty breathing www.propublica.org/article/epa-...

EPA Drops Legal Case Against the GEO Group, a Major Trump Donor, Over Its Misuse of Harmful Chemicals in ICE Facilities A complaint filed under the Biden administration alleged that on more than 1,000 occasions in 2022 and 2023, the GEO Group had its employees use the disinfectant, which causes irreversible eye damage ...

BREAKING: EPA Drops Legal Case Against the GEO Group, a Major Trump Donor, Over Its Misuse of Harmful Chemicals in ICE Facilities
@fastlerner.bsky.social @lisalsong.bsky.social

Gary Jonesi, a lawyer who worked at EPA for almost 40 years, said the decision to drop the case was "a complete surrender.”

A White House spokesperson said the GEO Group has been a federal contractor for many years but did not say whether the White House played a role in the decision

the EPA case was over workers spraying a product called HALT. In a separate case, people detained at the Adelanto ICE facility claimed they were sickened by the GEO Group's use of a similar toxic disinfectant. That case is still pending

EPA Drops Legal Case Against the GEO Group, a Major Trump Donor, Over Its Misuse of Harmful Chemicals in ICE Facilities A complaint filed under the Biden administration alleged that on more than 1,000 occasions in 2022 and 2023, the GEO Group had its employees use the disinfectant, which causes irreversible eye damage ...

NEW from me and @lisalsong.bsky.social

EPA just withdrew a complaint against the GEO Group, a major Trump donor that runs ICE detention facilities. The allegations — use of a disinfectant w/o proper protections — came with a maximum fine of up to $4 million

www.propublica.org/article/epa-...

Refugees have also died at food distribution centers, the officials wrote in the cable, including a pregnant woman who died under a stampede. Aid workers said they expected more people to get hurt “as vulnerable households become increasingly desperate.”

Death, Sexual Violence and Human Trafficking: Fallout From U.S. Aid Withdrawal Hits the World’s Most Fragile Locations Exclusive State Department records show: As the Trump administration abandons its humanitarian commitments, diplomats are reporting that the cuts have led to violence and instability while undermining...

In Malawi, U.S. funding cuts to the United Nations’ World Food Programme have “yielded a sharp increase in criminality, sexual violence, and instances of human trafficking” within a large refugee camp, U.S. embassy officials told the State Department in late April

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

U.S. AG Pam Bondi Sold More than $1 Million in Trump Media Stock the Day Trump Announced Sweeping Tariffs Disclosure forms show that Bondi sold between $1 million and $5 million worth of shares on April 2. That day, after the market closed, Trump’s “Liberation Day” press conference sent the market tumblin...

NEW: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sold between $1 million and $5 million worth of Trump Media stock the same day Trump unveiled new tariffs that caused the stock market to plummet, according to records obtained by ProPublica.

By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social and @bxroberts.org

The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk. The State Department has intervened on behalf of Musk’s satellite internet company in five developing nations. In Gambia, U.S. diplomats have lobbied and browbeat at least seven government ministers a...

New:

The Trump Administration Leaned On Poor African Countries to Give Elon Musk’s Company What It Wants

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

w/ @josh-kaplan.bsky.social @amierjeski.bsky.social

The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk. The State Department has intervened on behalf of Musk’s satellite internet company in five developing nations. In Gambia, U.S. diplomats have lobbied and browbeat at least seven government ministers a...

“I honestly didn’t think we were capable of doing this,” one official told ProPublica. “That is bad on every level.”

The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk.