David Armiak
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armiak.bsky.social
David Armiak
@armiak.bsky.social
Research Director and Investigative Journalist at The Center for Media and Democracy. Anthropologist. Proud father. Music nerd.
Pinned
NEW: DonorsTrust — the donor conduit favored by the Koch political network — funneled over $152.5 mil to MAGA groups, right-wing national and state think tanks and litigation centers, hate groups, youth groups, and more in 2023, according to an analysis of its latest IRS filing obtained by CMD.
DonorsTrust Injected More Than $150 Million in Untraceable Cash Into Right-Wing Groups in 2023 - EXPOSEDbyCMD
DonorsTrust — the donor conduit favored by the Koch political network — funneled over $152.5 million to MAGA groups, right-wing national and state think tanks and litigation centers, hate groups, yout...
www.exposedbycmd.org
Reposted by David Armiak
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.

Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
SCOOP: The rightwing extremist group Turning Point USA is holding rallies in Ohio at University of Cincinnati and Miami University in December with anti-ESG zealot Vivek Ramaswamy. Recent polls show Ramaswamy in a tight race with Amy Acton for Governor.
November 12, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
This weekend, the New York Times ran a story claiming Sierra Club’s values have diluted our mission. They couldn’t be more wrong. The list of their errors is too long for one social post, but we go over some examples in these slides.
November 10, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
PUBLISHED: ALEC Pushes Power Grid “Stability” Bills to Favor Fossil Fuels Over Renewables
#ALECExposed
ALEC Pushes Power Grid “Stability” Bills to Favor Fossil Fuels Over Renewables - EXPOSEDbyCMD
This past legislative session, at least 15 “grid reliability” and “grid stability” bills based on ALEC model policies were introduced in statehouses across the country.
www.exposedbycmd.org
November 12, 2025 at 7:36 PM
“Epstein’s personal calendars reveal that a senior Israeli intelligence officer, with personal ties to former CIA Director Leon Panetta, lived at Epstein’s Manhattan apartment for multiple stretches between 2013 and 2016.”
Israeli Spy Stayed for Weeks at a Time at Jeffrey Epstein's Mansion
Leaked emails show Epstein working on a wire transfer to Ehud Barak's top aide, Yoni Koren, who regularly stayed at his apartment.
www.dropsitenews.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Reposted by David Armiak
🟢 Hamas senior official Mousa Abu Marzouk reacts to the U.S. draft resolution to establish a UN Security Council–mandated security force in Gaza:

“If it is not a peacekeeping force but a security force operating inside Gaza, then it effectively becomes an occupation force—a substitute for the...
November 5, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Reposted by David Armiak
So it'll look like this?
November 4, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
Chris DeMuth - the former president of the American Enterprise Institute & Conference Chairman Emeritus of the National Conservatism (NatCon) conference—has resigned from the Heritage Foundation. Ouch. 11/4/25 1/ www.nationalreview.com/corner/chris...
November 4, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
In Chicago, a woman was driving to get coffee when a DHS vehicle fleeing an angry crowd crashed into her car. Armed agents jumped out of the vehicle, yanked her door open, pulled her by the legs out of her car at gunpoint, held her incommunicado for hours, then released her with no charges.
November 3, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
New from 404 Media: logins for Flock, the company behind the nationwide AI-camera network, are included in malware infections. Includes government and police accounts, meaning hackers could potentially break in. Senator Wyden asking FTC to investigate Flock

www.404media.co/flock-logins...
November 3, 2025 at 5:02 PM
The collective wealth of the top 10 US billionaires has soared by $698bn in the past year, but we supposedly have no money to feed the poor or for health care subsidies.
Top 10 US billionaires’ collective wealth grew by $698bn in past year – report
Oxfam warns Trump policies risk driving inequality to new heights – but Democrats have also exacerbated wealth gap
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
This FT account of pure thuggishness of Trump representatives posing as diplomats has not appeared in US media anywhere, but is being widely circulated and reported in media in Europe, the UK and the Asia Pacific area. Be sure to read it all.
November 3, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
🔔 Today: Join us for a conversation with journalists abducted by Israel from Gaza aid flotillas, featuring @recolston.bsky.social, Emily Wilder, and Noa Avishag Schnall, and moderated by @chipgibbons.bsky.social.

🕒 Noon EST/9 a.m. PST

RSVP: freedom.press/gaza-flotillas
November 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
"Exxon funded rightwing thinktanks to spread climate change denial across Latin America, according to hundreds of previously unpublished documents that reveal a coordinated campaign to make the global south “less inclined” to support the UN-led climate treaty process."
Exxon funded thinktanks to spread climate denial in Latin America, documents reveal
Texas-based fossil fuel company financed Atlas Network in attempt to derail UN-led climate treaty process
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo

“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”

“Alright, we just got to verify that”

www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
www.404media.co
October 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
RAJU: Last week you were very critical of Biden's use of the autopen. But Trump admitted on 60 Minutes to not knowing he pardoned a crypto billionaire who pleaded guilty to money laundering. Does that also concern you?

MIKE JOHNSON: I don't know anything about that. I didn't see it. I'm not sure.
November 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
We obtained hundreds of documents revealing how Exxon funded the rightwing Atlas Network to spread climate denial in Latin America and all across the Global South.

Read @geoffdembicki.bsky.social's exclusive story.

www.desmog.com/2025/11/03/a...
‘A Pretty Ugly History’: How Exxon Exported Climate Denial to the Global South
With Brazil about to host COP30, DeSmog has obtained copies of checks Exxon mailed to the right-wing Atlas Network in the 1990s to turn Latin America against climate treaties.
www.desmog.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
The MAGA coalition is imploding over its antisemitism problem, Tucker Carlson’s recent interview of Nick Fuentes, and Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts’ statement supporting Tucker after the backlash from the Fuentes interview. 1/
October 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
NEW: you can't refuse to be scanned by ICE's new facial recognition app, according to internal DHS document 404 Media obtained. Photos taken by the app are stored for 15 years, including of U.S. citizens. We've published the full document here: www.404media.co/you-cant-ref...
You Can't Refuse To Be Scanned by ICE's Facial Recognition App, DHS Document Says
Photos captured by Mobile Fortify will be stored for 15 years, regardless of immigration or citizenship status, the document says.
www.404media.co
October 31, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
Banking regulation is the weakest it's been since at least the Great Recession. What could possibly go wrong??

Our @dylangyauchl.bsky.social has more in @prospect.org this morning 1/2

prospect.org/2025/10/31/m...
Making Banking Supervision Suck Again - The American Prospect
Bank supervision consists of two main prongs: risk management and compliance. On the compliance side, consumer protection laws are being enforced less than at any time since at least the Great Recessi...
prospect.org
October 31, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
NEW: I spoke with the inestimable Terry Gross (!) on @nprfreshair.bsky.social about my year-long investigation of Russ Vought, the "shadow president" of Trump's second presidency.

Listen here: www.npr.org/2025/10/30/n...
Who's the man behind President Trump's dismantling of the federal government?
In a New Yorker article co-published with ProPublica, reporter Andy Kroll describes Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, as a "shadow president" with oversized influence.
www.npr.org
October 31, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
A person I interviewed for this story told me her 8th grader recently read Night by Elie Wiesel in school and observed “it’s sort of like what’s happening here right now” in case you’re wondering how things are going for Chicago’s kids.
On the occasion of Halloween, @newrepublic.com asked me to write about what’s going on in Chicago and I wanted you all to know what randomized terror feels like. And also that as the federal government fails our kids, everyday Chicagoans are showing the courage of trying to protect them.
ICE Is Terrorizing Chicago for Halloween—and Parents Are Fighting Back
Fear and a whiff of tear gas hang over festivities this year. In response, even people who aren’t usually politically engaged are mobilizing.
newrepublic.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:43 PM
“Roberts is at the helm of this captured court, and he is using the judicial power not like a fair umpire but like a Republican operative — a ‘Trumpire’ — determined to aid Trump wherever possible by bending, breaking and rigging the rules.” - @thelisagraves.bsky.social
John Roberts betrayed America for Donald Trump
Legal scholar Lisa Graves on why this Supreme Court chief justice is the worst in history
www.salon.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
Customs and Border Protection searched a record number of phones and electronic devices at U.S. border ports of entry over the past fiscal year, according to Wired.

Through the end of September, border agents conducted over 55,000 searches of electronic devices without a warrant — a spike of 17%.
October 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by David Armiak
NEW: A right-wing campaign based on a conspiracy theory aims to eliminate the algorithmic process that keeps everyone's identity private in US census data. If successful, it would likely discourage marginalized people from participating. @telliotter.bsky.social reports: www.wired.com/story/republ...
The Republican Plan to Reform the Census Could Put Everyone’s Privacy at Risk
A little-known algorithmic process called “differential privacy” helps keep census data anonymous. Conservatives want it gone.
www.wired.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:43 PM