By by Abrahm Lustgarten | – ( ProPublica ) – One of President Donald Trump’s most damaging strikes at the foundation of U.S. climate policy is buried deep in a sweeping Inauguration Day executive order focused on “Unleashing American Energy.” Half way through the lengthy document is a directive that would obliterate an obscure but […]
Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With off-limits Bosnian Serb Islamophobes
By Brett Murphy and Anna Maria Barry-Jester | – ( ProPublica ) – Before Peter Marocco was selected to dismantle America’s entire foreign aid sector on behalf of President Donald Trump, he was an official with the State Department on a diplomatic mission. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Marocco was a senior political appointee […]
“We’ve Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump
By Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen | – ( ProPublica ) – In the three-and-a-half weeks since Donald Trump returned to the presidency, investigations by the agency that handles allegations of civil rights violations in the nation’s schools and colleges have ground to a halt. At the same time, there’s been a dramatic […]
In Breaking USAID, the Trump Administration May Have Broken the Law
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Brett Murphy | – ( ProPublica ) – It was the week President Donald Trump had signed a sweeping executive order shutting off the funding for foreign aid programs. Inside the U.S. Agency for International Development, his political appointees gathered shell-shocked senior staffers for private meetings to discuss the storied […]
“People Will Die”: The Trump Administration Said It Lifted Its Ban on Lifesaving Humanitarian Aid in Sudan, Yemen, etc. That’s Not True
By Brett Murphy and Anna Maria Barry-Jester | – ( ProPublica ) – On Friday morning, the staffers at a half dozen U.S.-funded medical facilities in Sudan who care for severely malnourished children had a choice to make: Defy President Donald Trump’s order to immediately stop their operations or let up to 100 babies and […]
How the State Department Let Israel Get Away With Horrors in Gaza: A Year of Empty Threats and a “Smokescreen” Policy
by Brett Murphy ( ProPublica ) – Empty Threats: Since Oct. 7, 2023, Biden has repeatedly issued threats that Israel ignored. U.S. officials tried to enforce consequences — but they couldn’t. Internal Dissent: The State Department disregarded its own experts and cracked down on leaks. Some human rights officials said they were prevented from pursuing […]
The Militia and the Mole
By Joshua Kaplan – Reporting Highlights A Freelance Vigilante: A wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover, climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell his family or friends. The Future of Militias: He penetrated a new generation of militia leaders, which included doctors and government attorneys. Experts […]
The American Oil Industry’s Playbook, Illustrated: How Drillers Offload Costly Cleanup Onto the Public
by Mark Olalde. ( ProPublica ) – In December 1990, officials in the federal agency tasked with regulating offshore oil and gas drilling received a memo with a dire warning: America faced a ticking time bomb of environmental liability from unplugged oil and gas wells, wrote the agency’s chief of staff. Those wells and their […]
A Third Woman Died Under Texas’ Abortion Ban. Doctors Are Avoiding D&Cs and Reaching for Riskier Miscarriage Treatments
By Lizzie Presser and Kavitha Surana Thirty-five-year-old Porsha Ngumezi’s case raises questions about how abortion bans are pressuring doctors to avoid standard care even in straightforward miscarriages. ( ProPublica ) – Wrapping his wife in a blanket as she mourned the loss of her pregnancy at 11 weeks, Hope Ngumezi wondered why no obstetrician was […]