Sean Keenan

nytimes.comA MAGA Bank’s Financial Woes Entangle Vivek Ramaswamy and Rick Jackson (Gift Article)Georgia’s Rick Jackson has spearheaded a court battle over a failed ‘anti-woke’ bank that also counted Ohio’s Vivek Ramaswamy as a major investor.

“Not in a million years would I have allowed anybody in government to maintain this kind of arrangement because of the extreme danger of a conflict” of interest. The Financial Woes of a MAGA Bank Entangle 2 G.O.P. Candidates:

nytimes.comObama Issues Searing Attacks on Trump, Ramaswamy in Return to Campaign TrailThe 44th president appeared in Ohio on Saturday, kicking off a two-state swing with a rebuke of President Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor.

“He’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere.” Obama Issues Searing Attacks on Trump, Ramaswamy in Return to Campaign Trail:

nytimes.comWhen a Social Media Mob Came for Cornell’s Jane Doe (Gift Article)After a former student named seven men in a lawsuit saying they had sexually assaulted her, a movement gained steam online to reveal her identity.

“I’m not lacking in self-awareness,” internet bigot Aiden Thompson said. “I understand that I’m dramatically opportunizing off of this.” When a Social Media Mob Came for Cornell’s Jane Doe:

nytimes.comNew Round of ‘No Kings’ Rallies Focuses on Getting Out the Vote

For Felicia Murray Jackson, who led participants in a No Kings march, the moment was personal. Her older sister was killed when a man fleeing ICE hit her car. “I don’t want to hear you tell me how sorry you are for my loss — I want to hear you say, I took your loss straight to the ballot box."

nytimes.comKatie Zacharia, Trump’s New Press Secretary, Is Fired After 5 Days (Gift Article)The ouster came as Ms. Zacharia was shadowed by questions about how she had presented her legal career and handled her first press briefing.

@scaramucci.bsky.social eat your heart out

thebanner.comThe UMD student reporter who dared to record Rep. Andy Harris — and kept recordingA University of Maryland student journalist targeted by GOP Rep. Andy Harris during an informal press briefing Tuesday said she’ll continue to cover the Republican politician who threatened to have po...

The UMD student reporter who dared to record Rep. Andy Harris — and kept recording www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...

nytimes.comThe Trump Administration and the Shrinking Number of Women in Top Roles (Gift Article)In President Trump’s second term, those heading for the exits, voluntarily or involuntarily, are female officials.

The Disappearing Women of the Trump Administration In President Trump’s second term, those heading for the exits, voluntarily or involuntarily, are female officials.

nytimes.comHurricane Isaias Live Updates: Category 3 Storm Warnings Prompt Gulf Coast EvacuationsThe hurricane, which reached Category 3 strength, is forecast to make landfall late Friday. The Florida panhandle will bear the brunt.

I'm covering #Isaias's (hopefully minor) impact in Atlanta tomorrow for NYT, so reach out if you see or experience anything that needs attention. Here's our reporting so far:

Sean Keenan reposted

shelterforce.orgPublic Housing Tenants Sue Over Use of Invasive Monitoring Devices — ShelterforcePublic housing authorities are using tech to enforce smoke bans and noise rules—but a lawsuit claims it is tracking tenants' movements.

A housing authority has amassed data detailed enough, a new lawsuit suggests, to potentially reveal even when residents at subsidized complexes engaged in sexual activity. “And if you don’t agree to that, you don’t have a house.” My latest:

thebulwark.comThe Daily Wire Is Quietly Shooting a Pro-ICE Movie. We Got the Script.Locals aren’t happy about the film’s take on the ICE shooting of Renée Good.

"The film’s Renée Good stand-in slams her Subaru into an ICE van. Described as 'MELANIE (40), a fat blue-hair,' the woman, blasting NPR, revs up again and fatally hits ICE agent Juan with her car. Then his ICE partner shoots her in a justifiable killing."

Sean Keenan reposted

nytimes.comGiant Pandas, Icons of China’s Soft Diplomacy, Arrive in Atlanta (Gift Article)A male named Ping Ping and a female named Fu Shuang landed on Sunday, days after China’s leader said he would dispatch “envoys of friendship” to the United States.

My latest, fluffiest work for NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...

My latest, fluffiest work for NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...

Also...

nytimes.comTrump Approves $2.8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel, Including 40,000 One-Ton Bombs (Gift Article)The package would be among the largest deliveries of U.S. munitions to Israel.

15 Sept

Trump Approves $2.8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel, Including 40,000 One-Ton Bombs

nytimes.comE.P.A. Will Erase Limits on Climate Pollution From Power PlantsGeneration of electricity is the second largest source of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gases in the United States.

14 Sept

The Trump administration plans to announce Monday that the United States will no longer limit the planet-warming pollution that power plants pump into the air while burning coal and gas.

shelterforce.orgCan Atlanta Make Tax-Increment Financing Work in an Equitable Way? — ShelterforceA $5 billion initiative aims to reduce inequity between the city's neighborhoods, but its financing method might not get the needed buy-in.

11 Sept

Yes, I'm still writing about housing. Here's my latest for Shelterforce:

11 Sept

Some of Conservative Twitter is mounting a 'Cancel Netflix' crusade over this post

11 Sept

👀 👀 👀

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "Please right your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States. That loves us so much he can't even breath. That I will go out with my family, my friends, I'll do it any way - I don't care if I'm registered or not, I'm going to try to cheat like hell..."

nytimes.comBehind the Scenes, Vance Gathered Unvarnished Views of the Iran War (Gift Article)Vice President JD Vance received sobering assessments about the war that did not line up with what he, President Trump and other top administration officials were saying publicly.

10 Sept

Vice President JD Vance received sobering assessments about the war that did not line up with what he, President Trump and other top administration officials were saying publicly.

6 Sept

Trump has posted some really sinister stuff in the last hour, including one Truth showing a Space Force uniform resembling the imperials (bad guys) from Star Wars...

nytimes.comPentagon Subjects Roughly 50 Members of the Joint Staff to Polygraph Tests in Expanded Leak Hunt (Gift Article)The aggressive effort comes in the wake of news reports about the military’s diminished stocks of crucial munitions as the U.S. fights Iran.

5 Sept

👀 👀 👀

4 Sept

Today, for a story, I filed 17 ORRs with 17 different police agencies. I CANNOT overstate the VAST difference between a good/navigable records-request system and a bad/labyrinthine one. Every journo knows this, but filing all these rapid-fire really put a point on it...

www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/v...

3 Sept

nytimes.comIn Small Iranian Town, a U.S. Attack Turns a Wedding Into a Tragedy (Gift Article)The bomb that hit the residential area was American, according to a weapons expert and a visual analysis by The Times. It killed five people and wounded 67 others, the Iranian authorities said.

nytimes.comWhistle-Blower Says Trump Officials Are Defying Court Orders on Voting by MailA report detailed “grave concerns” that a new system being rushed into use by the U.S. Postal Service could imperil millions of mail ballots ahead of the midterm elections.

1 Sept

The USPS official raised “grave concerns” that the verification process could reject tens of thousands of ballots in a bulk-mailing batch if “even one bar code on one single ballot” failed to properly scan. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/u...

reut.rsEXCLUSIVE: US has used 'virtually all' of its long-range precision missiles during Iran war, sources sayThe U.S. Army has used up much of its stockpile of highly accurate long-range missiles during its five-month war with Iran, according to three people familiar with the data, raising concerns about the military's readiness for future conflicts.

5 Aug

Holy cow

Reuters@reuters.com

EXCLUSIVE: US has used 'virtually all' of its long-range precision missiles during Iran war, sources say reut.rs/4gc28C0

nytimes.comInside the Oval Office Showdown Between Trump and Jeanine PirroJeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told President Trump that his interior secretary, Doug Burgum, had misled him with a self-serving cover story for his own mistakes.

4 Aug

Trump raged against Pirro in private. Then he raged to reporters. Rumors she would be fired burbled through West Wing. Then he raged more before hosting a meeting with Pirro at the White House, for a high-drama, face-to-face meeting worthy of two decorated veterans of confrontational reality TV.

nytimes.comCharges to Be Dropped Against Ex-Olympian David Hearn Accused of Damaging Reflecting PoolPresident Trump had repeatedly accused vandals of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. On Friday, prosecutors acknowledged it was “the result of flawed installation” and moved to dismiss cha...

31 July

Reflecting Pool Damage Was ‘Botched’ Job, Not Vandalism, Prosecutors Say

nytimes.comColin Gray, Father of Teenage Shooter in Georgia, Sentenced to 15 Years in PrisonProsecutors argued that Colin Gray bore responsibility for the 2024 shooting because he had given his son a gun and failed to act as the teen’s mental health deteriorated.

30 July

The father of a teenager who fatally shot four people at his Georgia high school was sentenced on Thursday to 15 years in prison after a jury found he bore criminal responsibility for his son’s deadly attack in 2024.

nytimes.comGeorgia Teen Is Sentenced to Life for Deadly School Shooting (Gift Article)The boy pleaded guilty to 55 charges stemming from the 2024 attack at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., that killed two students and two teachers.

28 July

Georgia Teen Is Sentenced to Life for Deadly School Shooting My latest, with Rick Rojas:

Sean Keenan reposted

When he was 14 years old, Colt Gray carried out the deadliest school shooting in Georgia history. While we study the tragedy and its carnage, I think it's important to examine the backdrop, too.

Sean Keenan@thatseankeenan.bsky.social

🧵: I sat directly behind Colt today. Amid gut-wrenching testimony from victims and families, a heartbreaking revalation emerged: Colt, now 16, was "so close" to getting much-needed mental health treatment and meds... but the "intrusive thoughts" — voices in his head, he said — won.

When he was 14 years old, Colt Gray carried out the deadliest school shooting in Georgia history. While we study the tragedy and its carnage, I think it's important to examine the backdrop, too.

Sean Keenan@thatseankeenan.bsky.social

Indeed, it's not for me to say whether Colt should ever be eligible for parole, though I'm sure social media will for me.

All said, there's a cruel irony in the story of a boy — a literal CHILD! — needing mental health help, and only getting a taste of it because he fully let go and let the "voices" take over.

nytimes.comFather’s Murder Conviction in School Attack Puts New Onus on Parents (Gift Article)A jury found that Colin Gray, the father of the suspect, bore criminal responsibility for the attack at a Georgia school by failing to heed warnings of his son’s struggles.

I wish I could say Mom and Dad. (Dad, of course, was convicted of murder and manslaughter after the shooting.) www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/u...

I can't offer a solution to end this thread, as I am neither medical professional nor politician. I present these observations only hoping they spur some conversation about what went wrong, how it can be prevented, and why already-proposed fixes haven't gained traction.

I should note that it was hard to identify any change in Colt's behavior today. He sat silent, staring straight ahead, sometimes looking away as victims and their families confronted him. I'll probably never know what new meds he's on or how they affect him.

But before, Colt was self-diagnosed, self-medicating (sort of), self-loathing, self-mythologizing (need another thread about his fantasizing about mass killers), self-destructive. Who was there besides himself to stop this?

He said he thought about killing himself often. Suicide had long been on his mind, and it eventually became a possible alternative to hurting others. One victim told him he should have done it. He avoided her stare, looking downward instead.

I can't help but think about the fact that only now that he's killed people and is imprisoned is he being looked at by doctors and psychiatrists. He told the judge he's now prescribed meds, and taking them. It's unclear what Rx, but he'd previously just taken Mom's spare Zoloft.

Colt said he'd self-diagnosed — and was either schizophrenic or not, depending on the time of day — but had no help for his problems. After the shooting: "I want to at least find ME inside of all this, but it's so hard to."

The voices, he said, called him "coward" when he wouldn't shoot people as they requested — and again when he didn't kill enough. (He had, apparently, planned to kill more.)

As we wait to see if his inevitable life sentence comes with or without the possibility of parole, I can't help but think about Colt being "so close" to seeing a professional, to being properly diagnosed and medicated. He said Dad had found a doctor (whose name Colt didn't know).

We listened today to a recording of Colt *sobbing* to a cop just moments after the shooting. He was a wreck. The school bell rang a few times in the background as he confessed. He talked about being "neglected," "paranoid," a "fucking monster."

Dad gave Colt the murder weapon. Mom was in constant legal trouble, drinking and drugging. Their son grew up in a rough environment. As victims said today, “The failures of the adults around him explain part of his story, but they do not excuse the decisions that he made.”

One of the victim's siblings said, "He is the product of two people who did not deserve the privilege of bringing life into this world.”

nytimes.comTeen Charged in Georgia School Shooting Changes Plea to Guilty (Gift Article)Colt Gray, 16, had been scheduled to go on trial in October. His change of plea took place at a hearing that pivoted immediately to sentencing.

24 July

Colt Gray WILL get a life sentence, the judge says. The big question is whether he'll ever be eligible for parole.

Sean Keenan@thatseankeenan.bsky.social

NEW: Colt Gray just pleaded guilty to carrying out the deadliest school shooting in Georgia's history. I'm in court today covering the case. Follow along here:

24 July

NEW: Colt Gray just pleaded guilty to carrying out the deadliest school shooting in Georgia's history. I'm in court today covering the case. Follow along here:

Sean Keenan reposted