Russell Vought is the architect of President Trump’s broader plan to fire civil servants, freeze government programs and dismantle entire agencies. Here are some key things to know about the D.C. insider who wants to take a hatchet to the federal government.
government
The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center is calling for an inspector general investigation into potential conflicts of interest and ethics violations in the office of border czar Tom Homan related to government contracting.
https://www.propublica.org/article/border-czar-tom-homan-mark-hall-conflicts-interest-ethics-investigation?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #TomHoman #Ethics #Government #Immigration #USPolitics
Six months after ICE apprehended 47 people, including nine kids, in Hays County, Tex., County Judge Ruben Becerra says DHS has ignored his attempts to get answers:
“We’re not told why they took them, and we’re not told where they took them. By definition, that’s a kidnapping.”
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-dhs-ice-secret-police-civil-rights-unaccountable?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #USPolitics #Government #DHS #Immigration #ICE #Trump #Texas
They Were Choked, Beaten and Tased by #NYPD Officers. The Commissioner Buried Their Cases.
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New York City’s #Police Commissioner Edward Caban has repeatedly used a little-known authority called “retention” to prevent officers accused of misconduct from facing public disciplinary trials.
Victims are never told their cases have been buried.
#NYC #LawEnforcement #CivilRights #Crime #News #Government #Courts
#Maui Residents Have Been Forced From Their Homes to Make Room for #Wildfire Survivors. Property Owners Are Profiting.
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High prices offered by emergency #housing programs have encouraged property owners to chase the money.
Housing advocates say state officials haven’t moved aggressively enough to crack down on predatory behavior.
#News #Hawaii #Wildfires #Home #Government #RealEstate #climate
https://www.propublica.org/article/maui-wildifre-evictions-fema
Red State Workers Could Lose Out on Disability Benefits as Trump Administration Rewrites Eligibility Rules
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Planned changes to Social Security’s disability program could leave hundreds of thousands of older blue-collar workers ineligible for aid. These changes would fall disproportionately on some of President Trump’s most loyal supporters.
https://www.propublica.org/article/social-security-disability-eligibility-trump-red-states?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #SocialSecurity #Disability #Trump #USPolitics #Government
Inside Project 2025’s Secret Training Videos
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“Eradicate climate change references”...
Only talk to conservative media...
Don’t leave a paper trail for watchdogs to discover.
In a series of never-before-published videos, #Project2025 details how a second #Trump administration would operate.
#News #Video #election2024 #Election #GOP #Voting #HeritageFoundation #Government #Politics
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-project-2025-secret-training-videos-trump-election
The Government Spends Millions to Open Grocery Stores in #Food Deserts. The Real Test Is Their Survival.
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The community of Cairo, #Illinois, once a food desert, welcomed its new market last year with balloons and cheers.
But the store is struggling — exposing problems with the programs set up to help.
#News #Midwest #Government #Retail #Health #Business
https://www.propublica.org/article/food-desert-grocery-store-cairo-illinois
NEW: “No Separation Between Church and State”: Inside a Texas Church’s Training Academy for Christians Running for Office
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A Fort Worth church’s candidate training program is the “next stage” of a religion-driven political movement, which has more latitude now that the IRS has allowed religious leaders to endorse candidates from the pulpit, an expert said.
https://www.propublica.org/article/fort-worth-mercy-culture-church-campaign-university
#Uvalde Police Failed to Turn Over All Body Camera Footage From Robb Elementary Shooting, Department Says
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After an officer noticed that part of his bodycam footage was absent from a recently released trove of records, an audit found “several additional videos” that were not included.
It’s unclear if prosecutors previously had access to this video.
#News #Texas #Police #Government #Schools #Students #Crime
https://www.propublica.org/article/uvalde-police-failed-turn-over-body-camera-video-robb-elementary
NEW: How a Gap in Tennessee’s Probation System Leaves Domestic Violence Victims in Danger
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Probation officers pause in-person visits and home searches for offenders facing an arrest warrant. That reduced supervision can last for months — in one case it was over a year. Six mothers died during this gap, WPLN and ProPublica found.
https://www.propublica.org/article/tennessee-domestic-violence-guns-probation
#news #guns #criminaljustice #crime #government #tennessee #domesticviolence
Why It’s So Hard to Find a Therapist Who Takes #Insurance
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Those who need #therapy often have to pay out of pocket or go without care, even if they have #health insurance.
Hundreds of mental health providers told us they fled networks because insurers made their jobs impossible and their lives miserable.
#News #HealthCare #MentalHealth #Government #Business #Law #Doctors #Hospital #Patients
The Accelerationists’ App: How #Telegram Became the “Center of Gravity” for a New Breed of Domestic Terrorists
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From attempting to incite racially motivated #violence to encouraging attacks on critical #infrastructure, the alleged crimes planned and advertised by extremists on Telegram go far beyond the charges facing CEO Pavel Durov.
#News #Crime #Technology #Tech #Terrorism #Extremism #Government
https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-pavel-durov-arrest-domestic-terrorism-extremism
A new #Georgia #election rule violates the #law, experts say, because it asserts that county officials have the discretion to delay election certification — even though more than a century of state case law and judicial #history says otherwise.
#News #Government #Politics #GOP #election2024 #2024Election #Voting #Democracy
https://www.propublica.org/article/georgia-election-rule-violates-state-law-experts-say
New #Biden Administration Rules Aim to Hold Insurers Accountable for #MentalHealth Care Coverage
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The regulations will force health insurance plans to collect and report more data on how they limit and deny mental health claims. ProPublica’s reporting has found that insurers regularly shortchange patients seeking treatment.
#News #Health #Insurance #Regulation #Government #Therapy
https://www.propublica.org/article/biden-administration-strengthens-mental-health-care-protections
The #NYPD Is Tossing Out Hundreds of Misconduct Cases — Including Stop-and-Frisks — Without Even Looking at Them
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The department has killed more than 400 cases of alleged misconduct this year that an oversight board had investigated and substantiated.
It’s part of a lax attitude toward discipline under the current #police commissioner, Edward Caban, critics say.
#NYC #News #Law #LawEnforcement #CivilRights #Government #EdwardCaban
https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-tossed-out-police-misconduct-discipline-cases-edward-caban
Candi Miller would have turned 43 today.
Under Georgia’s abortion ban, Candi avoided doctors, deciding to navigate an abortion alone. Her death is the second preventable abortion-related death ProPublica has found.
#News #Abortion #Georgia #AbortionBan #USNews #Pregnancy #Health #Healthcare #Government #Politics
#EPA Scientists Said They Were Pressured to Downplay Harms From #Chemicals. A Watchdog Found They Were Retaliated Against.
Three reports issued by the agency’s inspector general detailed personal attacks suffered by the scientists — including being called “stupid,” “piranhas” and “pot-stirrers” — and called on the EPA to take “appropriate corrective action” in response.
#News #Science #Retaliation #Government #Environment #Safety #Whistleblower #Trump #Project2025
#EPA Says It Plans to Withdraw Approval for Chevron’s Plastic-Based Fuels That Are Likely to Cause #Cancer
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The decision comes after a ProPublica investigation revealed that the EPA had found that one of the fuels had a cancer risk more than 1 million times higher than the agency usually considers acceptable.
#News #Chevron #Plastic #Environment #Health #Government #Climate #Chemicals
#Georgia Judge Lifts Six-Week #Abortion Ban After Deaths of Two Women Who Couldn’t Access Care
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Abortion clinics rushed to provide care after a judge rejected the state’s ban, an order that could soon be paused by a higher court. It’s only the latest development since ProPublica reported the deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller.
#News #Health #Healthcare #Pregnancy #PlannedParenthood #WomensHealth #Law #Government #Politics #KamalaHarris #Doctors #Hospital
Bloodied Faces, Sobbing Children: #Immigration Officers Smash Car Windows to Speed Up Arrests
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We’ve documented nearly 50 incidents of immigration officers shattering car windows to make arrests — a tactic experts say was rarely used before #Trump took office.
#ICE claims its officers use a “minimum amount of force.”
You can judge for yourself.
#News #Government #HumanRights #Police #Courts #Politics
https://projects.propublica.org/trump-ice-smashed-windows-deportation-arrests/
#FossilFuel Interests Are Working to Kill #Solar in One #Ohio County. The Hometown #Newspaper Is Helping.
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A retired #gas industry executive, a shadowy “grassroots” group and a controversial #media company are spreading #misinformation while turning residents against a proposed solar farm — and each other.
#News #Journalism #CleanEnergy #Agriculture #Oil #Koch #Climate #Energy #Politics #Government
NEW: Gun-Makers Gave Sensitive Customer Information to #Political Operatives
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At least 10 #gun industry businesses, including Glock, Smith & Wesson, Remington and Mossberg, secretly handed over names, addresses and other data to lobbyists, who used the details to rally firearm owners to elect pro-gun politicians.
📷 #Germany has unleashed self-learning¹ AI camera systems on it's citizens.
AI + Mass Surveillance = Human Rights violations Made in Germany:
🇬🇧 https://madeindex.org/blog/ai-mass-surveillance-human-rights-violations-made-in-germany
🇩🇪 https://madeindex.org/de/ki-massenueberwachung-menschenrechtsverletzungen-made-in-germany
Sources:
¹https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXQ_E6AZTXQ&t=158
#Tech #Privacy #Government #Artificialintelligence #Software #IT #News #Mannheim #Deutschland #KI #MadeinGermany #HumanRights #Surveillance #kunstlicheintelligenz #uberwachung #AI #camera #regierung #nachrichten #georgeorwell #german #deutsch #BadenWurttemberg #parody
Exploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive #Political Ads Thrived on #Facebook and #Instagram in Run-Up to #election2024
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Despite Meta's stated commitment to crack down on harmful content, it failed to catch tens of thousands of ads that used false claims and deepfakes of political figures to collect users’ sensitive personal data or bait them into monthly charges.
#News #Tech #SocialMedia #Business #Badvertising #Scam #Meta #Government #politics
https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-instagram-meta-deceptive-political-ads-election