Susan Cunningham

Release the Trump-MBS Call About Khashoggi? Yesterday President Trump met in the Oval Office with Saudi Arabia’s de...

Did MBS tell Trump he'd ordered Khashoggi killed, and did Trump say he was fine with it? Josh Marshall looks at the evidence and concludes that the answer to both questions is "yes." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/relea...

‘Things happen’ — and for one brief moment, The Washington Post rediscovers its soul The Washington Post’s increasingly Trump-friendly editorial page has rediscovered its soul, however briefly. In a piece published Tuesday afternoon, the Post tears into Donald Trump for his f…

New at Media Nation: “Things happen” — and for one brief moment, The Washington Post rediscovers its soul. dankennedy.net/2025/11/19/t...

China underground church pastors arrested, face up to 3 years in jail, NGO head says – Reuters: ‘The remaining 18 detainees were formally arrested and charged with the crime of "illegally using information networks", said Bob Fu, the founder of Christian NGO ChinaAid’

"The worm doesn't make me eat dead rats. I was doing that before the worm," he purred at me like one of the diseased cats that would follow him around whenever he had a dead rat in his pocket that he was saving for later. He really liked eating them. He coughed and it sounded like a lawnmower hitting a sprinkler head. His leathery skin crackled in the evening sun. He had to leave tonight - he was speaking at a conference for people who think medicine turns you gay. Sometimes when he was away I would rub an old catcher's mitt up and down my legs and pretend he was giving me a massage. - excerpt from “I Don't Know Why He Sounds Like That: My Disgusting Affair with RFK Jr” by Olivia Nuzzi

this is obscene and evil

NYC’s accused dine-and-dash diva busted twice again in 24 hours — while mocking cops Pei Chung, 34, posted fresh food shots from Sea Thai and the trendy Italian restaurant Misi on Saturday and Sunday.

#China #influencer Pei Chung goes into high-end NYC restaurants dressed to the nines, racks up $100s in food, skips on the bill, then posts on #Instagram. Chung disappeared into the bathroom for 45 minutes before allegedly offering a mgr sexual favors to wipe her $146 bill nypost.com/2025/11/18/u...

Yes, your honor, we received and sold stolen goods, but if there was no market for such we wouldn't have done so. Our customers are to blame.

We live in a golden age of shamelessness and grift.

US gets most benefits from sovereign wealth funds' AI investments - PitchBook Sovereign wealth funds fueled 31% of global AI deal value.

From January through August of this year, #sovereign wealth funds participated in #AI venture deals worth $46.4 billion overall, with $43.3 billion (over 93%) of this funding going to US startups, according to #PitchBook data. #startups #VC pitchbook.com/news/article... #AbuDhabi #oman

Hard, fast rule from a veteran police reporter: Excepting anyone engaged in infiltrating a criminal conspiracy in an undercover capacity, any law officer who hides his identity from the public is a shitheel is doing vile shit and is, in fact, actively destroying the credibility of law enforcement.

Thailand's 'new Chinatowns' bring in the wrong type of investment Bangkok must find a balance between the lure of foreign capital and the protection of national interests

#thailand's "new Chinatowns" are the wrong investments. "Ordinary Thais increasingly feel excluded from their own cities, while officials and developers continue to chase foreign capital with minimal oversight." asia.nikkei.com/opinion/thai... #immigration #china

Timor Leste becomes Asean's 11th member Timor-Leste is the first country to join the grouping since Cambodia’s admission in 1999. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

For the first time in 26 years, #Asean has expanded its ranks, with #TimorLeste officially admitted as the grouping’s 11th member on Oct 26. Ex-Portuguese colony, island nation of 1.3 million, Timor-Leste aka East Timor applied for membership in 2011. www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia...

Thai Official Reportedly Connected to Cyber Scam Loses Job Deputy Minister’s wife allegedly received millions in cyber currency

Vorapak Tanyawong, Minister and ex-MD of KrungThai Bank, appears to have profited from China-#Cambodia #cyberscam compounds appointed to investigate. He's the 7th #thailand politician implicated in the pig-butchering scams. www.asiasentinel.com/p/vorapak-ta...

Axios Media Trends

Half of the 136 US #newspaper closures over the past 14 months have been from independent, for-profit newspaper chains that own five or fewer for-profit papers, according to a new report. 38% of 8,891 U.S. newspapers that existed 20 years ago shut down. #media www.axios.com/2025/10/21/l...

Missing 1,900-year-old Roman artifact was found in a New Orleans garden Roman soldier Sextus Congenius Verus was buried 1,900 years ago in Italy. So how did his grave marker end up in a backyard in New Orleans?

What happens at Mardi Gras stays at Mardi Gras.
www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

California Keeps Losing Tech Jobs Amidst the AI Boom, Employment in Silicon Valley is Shrinking

Yet amidst the #AI boom, the US continues bleeding #tech jobs—tech #employment is down 90k from its 2023 peak and has declined by more than 10k over past year. That is a massive slowdown from the 300k-per-year job growth pace seen in the 2022 tech boom. #california www.apricitas.io/p/california...

Bitcoin worth $14bn seized in US-UK crackdown on alleged scammers The UK has also frozen assets linked to the alleged scammers, including a £100m London office building.

US government has seized more than $14bn in #bitcoin and charged Chen Zhi. founder of a #Cambodia business empire, the Prince Group, with allegedly masterminding a massive #cryptocurrency scam, which involved forced labour camps. #UK #cyberscams www.bbc.com/news/article...

Signal calls on Germany to vote against ‘Chat Control,’ saying it would leave EU market The head of the Signal Foundation raised concerns around Germany now refusing to say whether it will support Chat Control in an upcoming vote.

#Signal Foundation on Friday said its end-to-end encrypted messaging #app will leave the #EU market rather than comply with a potential new regulation known as Chat Control. therecord.media/signal-calls...

How China Is Gutting Western Automakers The Formula: Scale Up. Flood In. Starve Out.

Just look at the numbers. #china's extreme #EV overcapacity has ignited brutal price wars at home, causing profits to vanish. This is forcing Chinese #automakers to face an ultimatum: export or die. 7 million exports in 2025! newsletter.dunneinsights.com/p/how-china-... #BYD #chery #UK

there's some good coverage of the appalling human trafficking but much less of the high end stuff that's really what differentiates it.

www.icij.org/investigatio...

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Brookline man arrested after allegedly firing pellet rifle near synagogue on eve of Yom Kippur - Brookline.News The 43-year-old man told police he was hunting rats near his Beacon Street residence.

Who among us hasn’t grabbed a pellet gun to go hunting for rats in an urban area near a synagogue during Yom Kippur services? brookline.news/brookline-ma...

How China waged an infowar against U.S. interests in the Philippines The Chinese embassy in Manila hired a marketing firm that ran fake social media accounts praising China, undermining the Philippines’ security alliance with the U.S., and criticizing Western COVID vaccines, Reuters found.

The #China-owned company InfinitUs also used the fake profiles to amplify anti-American content created by #Philippines writers, including some who had received money from Beijing. Also created Ni Hao Manila, a media outlet designed to look Filipino-run. www.reuters.com/world/asia-p... #infowar

The Indomitable Jane Goodall The Indomitable Jane Goodall: Reflections and memories from those who knew the trailblazing primatologist best

Reflections on #JaneGoodall from fellow scientists, Peter Singer, PETA's Ingrid Newkirk, International Fund for Animal Welfare. nautil.us/the-indomita...

Newsweek published a list of comedians performing in Riyadh for the caliphate of petroleum. It might not be limited to: Mo Amer Aziz Ansari Wayne Brady Hannibal Buress Bill Burr Jimmy Carr Dave Chappelle Louis C.K. Whitney Cummings Pete Davidson Chris Distefano Omid Djalili Zarna Garg Ben Hart Kevin Hart Gabriel Iglesias Jim Jefferies Jimeoin Maz Jobrani Jessica Kirson Jo Koy Bobby Lee Sebastian Maniscalco Sam Morril Mark Normand Russell Peters Jeff Ross Sugar Sammy Andrew Santino Andrew Schulz Tom Segura Ali Siddiq Aries Spears Chris Tucker Jack Whitehall

Newsweek ran a list.

A Curator Flees Bangkok After China Deems His Art Show Too Provocative

#China often engages in “intermediated #censorship” inside and outside its borders by delegating responsibility to internet companies, filmmakers and #art galleries to remove sensitive materials before problems arise, www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/w... #thailand #myanmar #tibet #xinjiang

Indonesia suspends TikTok registration over data sharing failures, ministry says Indonesia said it has suspended TikTok's registration status as an electronic system provider after it failed to hand over all data relating to the use of its live stream feature, though the social media app was still accessible to users on Friday.

#Indonesia has suspended #TikTok's registration to provide electronic systems after it failed to hand over all data relating to the use of its livestream feature, a government official said on Friday. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

She’s leading NIH’s push to reduce the use of animals in biomedical research Nicole Kleinstreuer, who is leading an NIH effort to reduce the use of animals in research, began thinking about the issue as a toxicologist at the EPA

#NIH’s push to reduce the use of #animals in biomedical research. What to call these approaches is still up for debate. They’re sometimes referred to as “new approach methodologies,” or NAMs. Others use the acronym to stand for “non-animal methodologies.” www.statnews.com/2025/10/03/a...

All Your Favorite Sellouts Will Be At The Riyadh Comedy Festival | Defector The existence of a Saudi Arabia comedy festival has been on the periphery of my mind for a few weeks, but there’s no more ignoring it. It’s finally here. The Riyadh Comedy Festival kicks off on Friday...

Riyadh #comedy festival: Jeff Ross, Kevin Hart, Chris Tucker, Russell Peters, Sebastian Maniscalco, Louis C.K. and Jimmy Carr to be expected. Then you get Bill Burr, Pete Davidson, Aziz Ansari, Mo Amer ... man, they must be getting a lot of money. defector.com/all-your-fav... #saudiArabia

Chinese Man Tricked into Myanmar Scam Ring Escapes to Thailand A Chinese man who thought he was heading to a job in Laos ended up trapped in a scam compound in Myanmar before making a desperate escape across the border into Thailand.

Chinese man tricked in #Myanmar scam escaped by swimming to Thailand. The compound sites operates under the control of the Karen Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and has become a major hub for online #cyberscam operations targeting victims worldwide. www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2025/09...

China's Himalayan mega-dam is a global threat The largest dam ever conceived symbolizes China's bid, from oil to water, for 21st-century dominance

#China is building a $168 billion #dam so massive it could alter the world's water systems as profoundly as climate change. Himalayan site on the Yarlung Zangbo River (aka the Brahmaputra) is in the one of the world's most seismically active zones. #tibet #india asia.nikkei.com/opinion/chin...