J. David McSwane

Feds march into downtown Chicago; top border agent says people are arrested based on ‘how they look’ Immigration agents wearing tactical gear and carrying long guns made arrests in downtown Chicago and the River North neighborhood Sunday. “This is not making anybody safer — it’s a show of intimidatio...

Today I spoke with Greg Bovino, a top U.S. Border Patrol chief, as he led dozens of feds in military gear through downtown Chicago.

He said they were arresting folks based on “how they look.”

“How do they look compared to, say, you?” he said, referring to me.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Photo of DOGE staffer Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old white man in a blue pullover, carrying a black backpack.

Photo of 53-year-old Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi. He is sitting, wearing white pants and shirt with a brown vest.

On the left: Nate Cavanagh, a 28-year-old DOGE staffer and college dropout.

On the right: Mohammad Halimi, a 53-year-old exiled Afghan scholar.

This is the story of how DOGE targeted Halimi on social media.

Then the Taliban took his family. 🧵

#Texas is spending at least $1B over the next 2 years on private ed. @propublica.org & @texastribune.org found more than 60 instances of nepotism, self-dealing and conflicts of interest among 27 private schools, likely an undercount.

📰: @emsimani.bsky.social and Lexi Churchill

Our New York members took their lunch outside today to demand that @propublica.org management agree to a fair discipline and performance evaluation system ✊

It's been 737 days of negotiating and anti-labor shenanigans. Please support our fight for equitable practices by following our Guild on bluesky and instagram.

Opinion | Please disperse, ‘Naked Gun’ reboot. There’s nothing to see here. Nostalgia means it can’t live up to the original. But neither can the original.

Don’t listen to this guy. The movie was a joy. Laughed out loud. Better than expected. Fresh where it needed to be.

Left to right, David McSwane, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Sascha Coen, Sean Reed.

Journalism can take you to some fun places.

‘Like Dogs in Here’ — Videos Expose ICE Lock-up Inside 26 Federal Plaza An analysis of ICE data by THE CITY shows that dozens of people have packed into locked rooms and increasingly held for days inside a Manhattan building the feds say isn’t a detention site.

Congressional reps have been denied access to the 10th Floor at Federal Plaza on the grounds that it's not a detention facility. Videos, testimony and data reviewed by @thecity.nyc show dozens held there for days, sleeping on the floor, subsisting on cookies, and using an open toilet stall

The Ozzman Bummeth 😢🤘🫡

Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and icon of British heavy metal, dies aged 76 The singer, who later became famous on reality TV show The Osbournes, dies less than three weeks after retirement concert

RIP to one of the weirdest to ever do it

Exclusive | Jeffrey Epstein’s Friends Sent Him Bawdy Letters for a 50th Birthday Album. One Was From Donald Trump. The leather-bound book was compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell. The president says the letter ‘is a fake thing.’

"The letter concludes: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”" www.wsj.com/politics/tru...

RFK Jr. Wants to Overhaul a Vital System That Supports Childhood Immunization The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program stabilizes the nation’s childhood immunization system while paying those harmed by rare side effects. If the program topples, it could threaten access to vaccin...

MY LATEST STORY: RFK Jr. Wants to Change a Program That Stopped Vaccine Makers From Leaving the U.S. Market. They Could Flee Again. www.propublica.org/article/rfk-...

For those who have followed this story, more to come.

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: 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 funding for “forever chemicals” research.

By @annaleighclark.bsky.social

How Foreign Scammers Use U.S. Banks to Fleece Americans Asian crime syndicates’ online scams have reached industrial proportions, cheating victims around the world out of more than $44 billion a year. U.S. banks have been unable to stop them.

New: Chase allowed someone to open an account — online, without providing ID — under the name of a Boston garage.

That account was then used to solicit hundreds of thousands of dollars from fraud victims around the U.S.

A New Trump Plan Gives DHS and the White House Greater Influence in the Fight Against Organized Crime Internal documents and interviews show that an overhaul led by Stephen Miller would scale back prosecutors’ control over investigations.

NEW: A New Trump Plan Gives DHS and the White House Greater Influence in the Fight Against Organized Crime

Internal documents and interviews show that an overhaul led by Stephen Miller would scale back prosecutors’ control over investigations.

Interesting

CNN Reporter to Police: He’s press, he’s with me

Police Officer: You grabbing me? Get away from me

The DOGE 100: Musk Is Out, but More Than 100 of His Followers Remain to Implement Trump’s Blueprint At least 38 DOGE members work, or have worked, for one of Elon Musk’s companies. Meanwhile, nearly two dozen DOGE officials are making cuts to the same federal agencies that regulate the industries th...

NEW: We're adding 23 names to our now 100+ name DOGE tracker and can reveal that at least 38 DOGErs currently work or have worked for businesses run by Elon Musk.

story: www.propublica.org/article/doge...

full tracker: projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-do...

Maricopa County’s Handling of Death Penalty Cases Puts Its Secretive Review Process in Question In nearly 350 death penalty cases Maricopa County prosecutors pursued over 20 years, just 13% ended in a death sentence. The numbers indicate the need for a more deliberate and transparent process to ...

NEW INVESTIGATION: Death Penalty Cases in Maricopa County, Arizona, Rarely End in a Death Sentence, Costing Huge $$$, Leaving Distraught Families
@nicolesantacruz.bsky.social @davebiscobing15.bsky.social w/ @abc15.com

“The Intern in Charge”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trump’s Team Picked to Lead Terrorism Prevention One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating v...

Staffers have expressed shock at how little Fugate knows about the basics of his role -- DHS did not address questions about his level of experience.... @hannahallam.bsky.social @kirstenberg.bsky.social for @propublica.org
www.propublica.org/article/trum...

“The Intern in Charge”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trump’s Team Picked to Lead Terrorism Prevention One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating v...

"A year after graduation, the 22-year-old with no apparent national security expertise is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the government’s main hub for terrorism prevention." @hannahallam.bsky.social

CBO is out with its final cost estimate of the tax-and-spending bill passed by the House.
- Revenue ⬇️ by $3.7 trillion over 10 years
- Spending ⬇️ by $1.3 trillion
- Debt ⬆️ by $2.4 trillion over 10 years
- Uninsured pop. ⬆️ by 10.9 million in 2034
Full analysis: www.cbo.gov/publication/...

Dismissed by DEI: Trump’s Purge Made Black Women With Stable Federal Jobs an “Easy Target” The president’s attack on diversity efforts has derailed the government careers of highly educated civil servants — even though the jobs some lost were not directly involved with any DEI programs.

Dismissed FAA staffer Ronicsa Chambers said her team members — five Black women and one white man with a disability — were told they would be reassigned but remain without work.

“As far as we know, we’re the only ones still on administrative leave.”

New, @davidmcswane.bsky.social @propublica.org

Harrison Ruffin Tyler, Grandson of the 10th President, Is Dead at 96

Harrison Ruffin Tyler, the last surviving grandson of John Tyler, the 10th president of the U.S., died on Sunday at age 96. He was the last of three generations spanning nearly the entire history of the country. When his grandfather was born, George Washington had just become president.

Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes Homeland Security records reveal that officials knew that more than half of the 238 deportees were labeled as having no criminal record in the U.S. and had only violated immigration laws.

NEW: We obtained DHS data that shows the US knew only 32 of the 238 Venezuelans deported to a prison in El Salvador in March were convicted of US crimes, only 6 of those violent. Trump called them “savages,” “monsters” and "the worst of the worst.” www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes Homeland Security records reveal that officials knew that more than half of the 238 deportees were labeled as having no criminal record in the U.S. and had only violated immigration laws.

Deep reporting by @propublica.org belies US claims that the 238 migrants shipped to an El Salvadoran prison were violent criminals. By far, most all were not. One sister of a man with no record calls her brother's expulsion: a US sponsored kidnapping.

A Teacher Dragged a 6-Year-Old With Autism by His Ankle. Federal Civil Rights Officials Might Not Do Anything. The Garrison School is part of a special education district that had students arrested at the highest rate in the country. It had pledged to change how it disciplines kids after a ProPublica-Chicago T...

NEW: The school, part of a special education district that had students arrested at the highest rate in the U.S., had previously pledged to change how it disciplines kids after a ProPublica, @chicagotribune.com investigation & federal probe.

By @jsmithrichards.bsky.social @jodiscohen.bsky.social

A 700% APR Lending Business Tied to Dr. Phil’s Son Is Dividing an Alaska Tribe Tribal lender Minto Money has boosted the economy of its Alaska town. But some tribal members are appalled by the millions it’s made off desperate borrowers — much of which, lawsuits allege, has gone ...

NEW: A 700% APR Lending Business Tied to Dr. Phil’s Son Is Dividing an Alaska Tribe
@kylehopkinsak.bsky.social @megomatz.bsky.social @joeljacobs.bsky.social w/ @adn.com