Brian Barrett

Trump Is Boosting MAGA X Accounts Operating Overseas A new feature on X revealed that many influential MAGA accounts are not actually based in the US. President Donald Trump has continued sharing their posts anyway.

A new feature on X showed that lots of hugely popular MAGA accounts were secretly based overseas. Donald Trump keeps sharing their posts anyway. from @davidgilbert.bsky.social

A $100 Billion Chip Project Forced a 91-Year-Old Woman From Her Home Azalia King was the last holdout preventing the construction of a Micron "megafab." Onondaga County authorities threatened to use eminent domain to take her home away by force.

A 91-year-old woman refused to sell her home of 60 years to make room for a $100 billion Micron superfab. She finally gave up when authorities threatened to take it through eminent domain. from @peard33.bsky.social

Pranksters Recreated a Working Version of Jeffrey Epstein’s Gmail Inbox Using Jmail, you can read thousands of Jeffrey Epstein's emails in a familiar format. Use the star function to highlight notable finds.

Jmail is Gmail but exclusively for the Epstein emails. Yep! from @boone.bsky.social

Senators Want Extremism Researchers to Surrender Documents Linked to Right-Wing Grudges The Senate homeland security committee's chair has asked researchers to turn over troves of documents related to the January 6 attack, vaccines, and more, according to a letter reviewed by WIRED.

NEW: A copy of a letter from the Senate homeland security committee reviewed by @wired.com asks for documents linked to 300+ terms, including “mask mandates,” “origins of Covid-19,” “Trump voter," "red hat,” “sedition,” and much more. @awinston.bsky.social has the scoop www.wired.com/story/senato...

This is a great piece. I have had five endometriosis surgeries and a c-section. Pelvic floor PT is a godsend.

A $100 Million AI Super PAC Targeted New York Democrat Alex Bores. He Thinks It Backfired Leading the Future said it will spend millions to keep Alex Bores out of Congress. It might be helping him instead.

A $100 million pro-AI super PAC has picked its first target. @mzeff.bsky.social talked to New York congressional candidate Alex Bores about what it's like to be in Andreessen Horowitz's crosshairs: www.wired.com/story/alex-b...

The Pelvic Floor Is a Problem Everyone’s suddenly obsessed with the pelvic floor—physical therapists, MAHA influencers, me. Could this deeply misunderstood body part really be the seat of so much modern dysfunction?

I wrote this piece because I only learned about pelvic floors a few years ago, despite having had one all my life. And then it turned out to be where I store all my issues. And then that turned out to be true for a lot of people www.wired.com/story/the-pe...

Google DeepMind Hires Former CTO of Boston Dynamics as the Company Pushes Deeper Into Robotics DeepMind's chief says he envisions Gemini as an operating system for physical robots. The company has hired Aaron Saunders to help make that a reality.

Google DeepMind has hired the former CTO of Boston Dynamics (yes, the dystopian robot dog company) to help build Gemini into a sort of operating system for robots. Great scoop from @willknight.bsky.social

This Home Robot Clears Tables and Loads the Dishwasher All by Itself Sunday Robotics has a new way to train robots to do common household tasks. The startup plans to put its fully autonomous robots in homes next year.

Not mad that this helper robot looks so much like Homestar Runner

Weight-Loss Drug Zepbound Is Being Tested as a Treatment for Long Covid GLP-1s are being studied for a wide range of conditions. Now, scientists will test whether their anti-inflammatory properties can help alleviate symptoms of long Covid.

There's a chance you'll be able to add long Covid to the list of things some GLP-1 drugs can treat. from @emilymullin.bsky.social

All MAGA Wanted Was the Epstein Files. Now They're Ignoring Them For years, MAGA influencers demanded the release of the Epstein files. Now that 20,000 documents have been released, many raising questions about Donald Trump, they're shrugging.

With the release of 20,000 Epstein files, MAGA finally got what it had been demanding for years. Now they're doing their damndest to brush them off. from @davidgilbert.bsky.social

Jeffrey Epstein Claimed Intimate Knowledge of Donald Trump’s Views in Texts With Bill Gates Adviser In text messages from 2017, Jeffrey Epstein seemingly represented himself as positioned to pass information from the Trump White House to Bill Gates through an intermediary.

Donald Trump claims he broke off contact with Jeffrey Epstein in 2004. But recently released text messages show Epstein presenting himself—to a Bill Gates associate—as plugged into the Trump White House as recently as 2017. from @timmarchman.bsky.social and @leahfeiger.bsky.social

Apologies, should have said: hemp-based THC products.

A Proposed Federal THC Ban Would ‘Wipe Out’ Hemp Products That Get People High The provision, tucked into the spending bill that could end the US government shutdown, would ban intoxicating hemp-derived THC products, including gummies and drinks.

It turns out the spending bill that will reopen the government will also effectively ban THC products. from @manishakrishnan.bsky.social

If the US Has to Build Data Centers, Here’s Where They Should Go A new analysis tries to calculate the coming environmental footprint of AI in the US and finds that the ideal sites for data centers aren’t where they’re being built.

new from me today: not all data centers are created environmentally equal — and building them in states with cleaner grids and more access to water could go a long way in preventing environmental catastrophe

That'll do it.

Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream―An Exposé of Private Equity's Devastating Impact on American Lives, Communities, and the Economy Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream―An Exposé of Private Equity's Devastating Impact on American Lives, Communities, and the Economy [Greenwell, Megan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream―An Exposé of Private Equity's Devastating Impact on American Lives, Communities, and the Economy

Not NYC this time! And if I recall you’ve also been out of town during some of those trips because you were off “reporting” and “writing” a “bestselling book about private equity that got a fully deserved rave in the NYT book review” and that people can buy here

I’m five hours into a delay but haven’t given up hope quite yet!

Apologies to anyone who thought they were flying out of Atlanta tonight.

Social Security Employees Grill Management During Tense Shutdown Meeting WIRED obtained notes from a Social Security Administration management meeting, where employees pressed leadership on plans for the agency.

NEW: We obtained notes from a Social Security Administration management meeting, where employees grilled leadership on plans for the agency during the shutdown + shared really upsetting stories from employees unable to get to work bc they can't afford gas.

from me and @zoeschiffer.bsky.social:

Hi! WIRED's executive editor here. I can promise you that we are not going to do either of those things.

StraightFromThe Hut | Jake Lahut | Substack A campaign and communications strategy newsletter, plus a home for Jake Lahut's freelance feature reporting and other notebook items (no paywalls, but pay to support). Click to read StraightFromThe Hu...

But if you have some spare income, give what you can here or sign up for one of the paid tiers. I think the founding member thing lets you put in whatever you want straightfromthehut.substack.com

As my general two cents: don't cancel your WIRED subscriptions.

Best culture, best newsroom of anywhere I've worked. I love the living shit out of these folks, and they don't deserve to be negatively impacted by a decision that was made by the parent company, not them. And it's only $2 a month.

Just to be absolutely clear: Our commitment to politics reporting is unwavering, and we'll continue to invest in, hire for, and prioritize that coverage.

We link to their story; we have significantly more detail culled from nearly 1,700 pages of documents.

Mark Zuckerberg Opened an Illegal School at His Palo Alto Compound. His Neighbors Revolted Neighbors complained about noise, security guards, and hordes of traffic. An unlicensed school named after the Zuckerbergs’ pet chicken tipped them over the edge.

Incredible reporting from @carolinehaskins.bsky.social about a school Mark Zuckerberg opened on his Palo Alto compound and operated for years with no permits, permissions, anything at all

Teachers Get Death Threats After MAGA Claims Their Halloween Costumes Mocked Charlie Kirk A Turning Point USA official inaccurately claimed a high school's math department wore Halloween costumes that mocked Charlie Kirk. Those teachers are now facing a flood of online attacks and death th...

SCOOP :

I got hold of the death threats, doxes and attacks teachers in Arizona are facing after a TPUSA spokesperson inaccurately claimed they mocked Charlie Kirk during Halloween.

"We’re coming for you. Literally driving to Tucson as we speak You fucking wait.”

www.wired.com/story/arizon...

FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves In a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, the FBI said criminal impersonators are exploiting ICE’s image and urged nationwide coordination to distinguish real operations from fakes.

You know how everyone said that ICE wearing masks and not showing ID was going to lead to criminals impersonating ICE to do bad things? Well, it's happening. from
@dell.bsky.social and @carolinehaskins.bsky.social

Baseball, man.

Like all of WIRED's public records-based reporting, this one's in front of the paywall.