Norway’s criminal justice system ranks as one of the most impartial in the world. Yet with partner NRK, we found that people are on trial not only for what they may have done, but for who they are.

To hear from Jesse and Melissa and go behind the scenes of this investigation listen to the latest Backlight podcast from @lhreports.bsky.social www.lighthousereports.com/investigatin...

This theatre of deterrence looked like a recipe for drowning deaths. Which is exactly what it is
A year on & Lighthouse Reports, Washington Post & El Universal revealed the scale of drowning deaths brought about by militarization and politics on the river www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/...

Jesse's livelihood is not its only victim.
We paddled on the fast moving river watching families with small kids wading across from the Mexican side to be met with fortifications and bull horns, while bored looking guys in uniforms cruised the river with nothing to do.

Once on the water, Jesse lamented the fact that Texas' Operation Lone Star -- a multibillion dollar effort to pick a fight with the White House and provide border content for the election cycle -- had killed his kayak tour company.

We hauled the kayaks past a shrill right-wing cable TV reporter setting up that day's camera position with the help of Florida Fish and Wildlife agents. She had them in a circle, running through a shot list to ensure she got the footage needed to capture the "border invasion"

These days it's a mess of churned mud and razor wire. The park, like much of the US bank, has been occupied by a cacophony of state, out-of-state troopers, border patrol and any number of Feds.

The speed with which the powerful and merciless are reduced to small, pathetic fugitives prompts a kind whiplash