@steve sternberg

WATCH: A defense contractor CEO and his close associates donated nearly $900,000 to dozens of politicians and got over $40 million a year in government funding. He told the FBI that Sen. Susan Collins was his most important patron. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqyiFFB7Kjg

Read this story: A Texas Cop Signed on to Help ICE Deport His Neighbors. It Tore the Town Apart @francescadnunz.bsky.social @mckenziefunk.com

JUST POSTED: Today at The NYT we are publishing a major investigation into how President Trump used his executive powers to expose millions of Americans to greater cancer risks. A six month-long investigation built on more than 10,000 pages of FOIA records. Read it www.nytimes.com/2026/10/24/c...

In U.S. Gas Talks With Kremlin, Hidden Financing for Alaska Project Emerges www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...

JUST POSTED: A Russian energy giant has secretly moved to acquire a position in a massive Alaska gas project. Its part of talks between Witkoff/Kushner & Putin. But CEO of US company resigns after learning of Russian money in the project. A wowzer of a story. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/23/u...

In one day, two politicians - Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vucic in Serbia - with ties to Trump have lost surprise elections thanks to high turnout. The rise of the international far-right is not inevitable.

In August, President Trump announced he had signed the “biggest oil deal in world history.” ProPublica reviewed the deal and found it gives a small group of people largely handpicked by the Trump administration long-term control of the enterprise.

Proposed changes to childhood hep B vaccination would increase chronic hep B infections in kids by 83% #IDSky

In case you’re wondering what’s going on in Washington: This is the banner on Donald Trump’s DOJ. The slogan: “Make America Safe Again.” Just blocks away: Brian Cox in The Score, a brilliant play that pits the composer JS Bach against another despot, Frederick II of Prussia.

Aaron Parnas gives us MAJOR information about Trump’s ties to Russia, which helps us understand his "deals" with Putin — the diesel deal, secret intel and more— and his betrayal to our country and Ukraine. Is this what we want for the US ? Watch and read 👇🏻 aaronparnas.substack.com/p/major-deep...

This episode, we discuss some of the complications from measles infection. Measles isn't just a rash. And, acute death associated w/ infection isn't the sole outcome we need to worry about. The good news is that we have a highly effective vaccine. We just have to use it. Hear the full discussion ⬇️

NEW: A bird flu outbreak has been raging uncontrolled on a Utah mink farm for two months. Flu experts fear it could spark a devastating human pandemic. But officials haven’t acted — instead prioritizing the financial interests of the fur trade.

News just broke that Elon Musk made a $1 billion investment in the Ellison family's Skydance, which owns CBS and CNN. Anoher step toward right-wing "media capture," as I wrote about recently in my Stop the Presses newsletter.

Like horror flicks? Google the rabies virus lifecycle. That should scare anyone. It attacks the brain causing madness and then migrates to the next host in saliva through savage bites. It has to succeed to survive— hosts die horribly. This isn’t good news.

Rep. Andy Harris threatened a student journalist with prosecution for recording him. A local news anchor confronted him with the facts. www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...

The Arlington, Virginia County Board has sued the Trump administration to prohibit it from authorizing armed federal agents to be present at polling places.

Those in North Carolina who are voting by mail can track their ballots at: northcarolina.ballottrax.net/voter/ #ncpol

A STAT investigation found that several nonprofits are raking in massive sums by acting as arbitrators in a program that helps protect patients from surprise medical bills. https://www.statnews.com/2026/10/19/no-surprises-act-billing-arbitration-profits-stat-investigation/

Please indulge me while I post this once more for folks who may be too busy during the week and only peek at Bluesky on the weekend. The NY Times invited me to explain why I think they're failing in their duty to warn the public about the danger of a dictatorship. And they posted the video online.

Some Watergate headlines are instructive. Just one example of the WP hitting the “total” button: Conspiracy in the Capitol: Top Aides Resign Amid Cover-Up Allegations” @stopthepresses.bsky.social

Donald Trump wants to sabotage the midterms. Today, millions of Americans will make it clear that’s not happening. Find your local No Kings event and join us: www.nokings.org?SQF_SOURCE=i...

Disastrous. "More than 2 newspapers are lost for every startup created. Virtually all new news sources are urban, while rural America is increasingly arid news territory. Virtually all philanthropic support for local news is in metro regions..." localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/sta...

Brown University’s widget shows that the energy costs of the Iran war have just passed $1,000 per household iranwarcost.watson.brown.edu

4,000 people attended James Talarico's rally. He stayed to meet every single Texan.

www.statnews.com/2026/10/05/h...

NEW: In March the White House released an FY27 budget request that zeroed out the National Science Foundation's directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). For months it was unclear what would happen. Now, with FY26 over, the damage to SBE is coming to light. My reporting:

AJPG: The Relationship Between Political Affiliation, Perceptions of Science and Scientists, and Perceived Safety and Effectiveness of the MMR, Flu, and COVID-19 Vaccines: United States, 2024 ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/... "politicization most evident for the COVID-19 vaccine"

Who could ever give Trump props for transparency? What especially galls me is when Trump refuses to answer a question — and attacks the person asking it — the next reporter fails to double down and demand an answer.

I've endorsed the Media and Democracy Project's pro-democracy election coverage guidelines. You should too.

The government *still* isn’t tracking how often immigration agents detain U.S. citizens. We are. 500+ Americans have been handcuffed, held at gunpoint or held against their will in Trump’s second term. Our tally is almost certainly an undercount. THREAD (content warning: violence) ⬇️

Kyiv. I am in my favorite bookstore. That means I crossed the Dnipro River. Trains of my metro line run across it again with some restrictions. Relief. I write more about how Kyiv and I live in the letters. Sunday Letter from Kyiv. Sounds good.

Really great/smart tool from @juddlegum.bsky.social: shining daylight on the mysterious backers of the Super Pacs behind campaign mailers: popular.info/p/this-tool-...

There's a takeover of the American news industry going on, pushed by Elon Musk, the Ellisons, the Saudis and others. Democracy is impossible if the truth is buried under right-wing propaganda, so we've got to push back against this "media capture." My Stop the Presses newsletter.

This has been going on since the 1980s. No one has done anything.

I encourage every American to come to Washington and see how your President is spending your tax dollars. While you’re here, you could ask about why you can’t afford healthcare and why we’re fighting a senseless war.

1. BREAKING: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has declared a statewide disaster emergency over a rapidly growing measles outbreak. New York has confirmed 108 cases this year, including 92 since July 15. Pennsylvania is dealing with an extraordinary outbreak: 1,004 confirmed cases so far this year.

Gov. Josh Shapiro: "Measles was eliminated back in the year 2000. And now, 26 years later, we’re dealing with it coming roaring back. Pennsylvania has now eclipsed 1,000 cases across 39 counties, with five deaths." Shapiro says amid the outbreak, vaccinations have now doubled.

Reposting to assure that @nytimes.com reads this thread.

edition.cnn.com/2026/10/04/e...

The news media are way too accepting of racism in our politics. They should be peppering the Republicans' Senate candidates in TX, OH, MI, IA and ME with questions about why they welcome campaign help from white supremacist Elon Musk.

Reports out of the Irkutsk region of Russia reveal a potential public health crisis developing in the area after a lab accident released a “particularly dangerous infection” to a researcher, who later passed away.

And, in November with mid-terms coming, millions will realize that they can no longer find acceptable, affordable health plans. Most 2027 Virginia plans are high deductible, meaning you pay fortunes out-of-pocket before you get coverage, and premiums will be $1000 or more per month.

mhstats.org/blog/global-...

A show of hands please — this November how many of you are going to a) lose your health insurance b) have no choice but shift to an unsubsidized marketplace plan costing $1,000 or more?