makena kelly
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makenakelly.bsky.social
makena kelly
@makenakelly.bsky.social
reporter @ WIRED covering the politics and power influencing the internet

DMs open, Signal: makenakelly.32
FAQ, Instagram, TikTok, & everything else at linktr.ee/makenakelly
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ICYMI: The White House has laid out a plan to challenge any and all state AI regulations and Trump could sign the EO to do so as early as this week.

More w/ @mzeff.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/trump-...
Trump Takes Aim at State AI Laws in Draft Executive Order
The draft order, obtained by WIRED, instructs the US Justice Department to sue states that pass laws regulating AI.
www.wired.com
Reposted by makena kelly
redid my personal site post-layoff :)

my contact form is open! if you're looking to talk to or commission someone with expertise in covering and analyzing social movements, prison and police abolition, trans politics, climate organizing, cultural criticism... reach out! (my DMs are cursed rn, lol)
Lex McMenamin
Lex McMenamin is a writer, editor, and organizer from Philadelphia, based in New York.
lexmcmenamin.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:43 PM
reaching flowstate, eating gushers with chopsticks
November 22, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
I spoke with people role-playing ICE raids in video games to help educate people on their rights and what to do in real-life situations. Tonight, they're holding an event in Fortnite www.wired.com/story/activi...
November 21, 2025 at 10:16 PM
when he posts you on grid UwU
November 22, 2025 at 12:10 AM
6 7 !!!!!!!
November 21, 2025 at 11:54 PM
one of my favorite hobbies is finding new bars that do a mai thai and ranking them against all the others i’ve had
November 21, 2025 at 11:29 PM
now kiss
November 21, 2025 at 9:19 PM
ICYMI: The White House has laid out a plan to challenge any and all state AI regulations and Trump could sign the EO to do so as early as this week.

More w/ @mzeff.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/trump-...
Trump Takes Aim at State AI Laws in Draft Executive Order
The draft order, obtained by WIRED, instructs the US Justice Department to sue states that pass laws regulating AI.
www.wired.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:51 PM
NEW: Trump Takes Aim at State AI Laws in Draft Executive Order

All the deets + more w/ @mzeff.bsky.social (it's his first WIRED byline yay!!!!)
www.wired.com/story/trump-...
Trump Takes Aim at State AI Laws in Draft Executive Order
The draft order, obtained by WIRED, instructs the US Justice Department to sue states that pass laws regulating AI.
www.wired.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:02 AM
didnt take my own advice :-(
November 20, 2025 at 12:23 AM
people just selling whatever made-up AI-generated nonsense on Facebook marketplace these days
November 19, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
It is hard to overstate just how fringe QAnon was when Marjorie Taylor Greene began posting videos about it (it wasn't even called QAnon yet).

Now, eight years later, her anger at Trump over Epstein can be linked directly to her QAnon beliefs...

www.wired.com/story/how-do...
How Donald Trump Lost Control of the Epstein Spin Cycle
Donald Trump has spent years benefiting from the QAnon's Jeffrey Epstein obsession. That’s all changing.
www.wired.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
An underrated part of our misinformation problem: It's not just that we're awash in deliberate propaganda from ideologues and hacks. Huge, huge numbers of people are primarily getting their political news from morons. They're not deliberately lying; they just pull stuff out of their ass on stream.
There are nearly 40,000 people watching Asmongold stream about the Epstein files vote right now.

Wild reading chatters ask him questions like how long it will take to see all the files... and he pulls "6 months" out of nowhere... just bonkers stuff.
November 18, 2025 at 8:26 PM
There are nearly 40,000 people watching Asmongold stream about the Epstein files vote right now.

Wild reading chatters ask him questions like how long it will take to see all the files... and he pulls "6 months" out of nowhere... just bonkers stuff.
November 18, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
In April @makenakelly.bsky.social and I reported that DOGE + DHS were pulling together a master database, combining data from multiple government agencies, including the IRS, SSA, DHS, and state voting data, likely housed in the USCIS SAVE database

www.wired.com/story/doge-c...
DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants
DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, an IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.
www.wired.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
SCOOP: Last week, the Social Security Administration published a notice saying it will be sharing "citizenship and immigration information” with DHS, confirming what WIRED reported months ago. Follow along with me below...

www.wired.com/story/social...
Social Security Data Is Openly Being Shared With DHS to Target Immigrants
For months, the Social Security Administration was quietly sharing sensitive data about immigrants with DHS. Now it’s official.
www.wired.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:12 PM
NEW: Social Security Data Is Openly Being Shared With DHS to Target Immigrants

from @telliotter.bsky.social
www.wired.com/story/social...
Social Security Data Is Openly Being Shared With DHS to Target Immigrants
For months, the Social Security Administration was quietly sharing sensitive data about immigrants with DHS. Now it’s official.
www.wired.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:01 PM
read the Part 1 blog while watching the new Ken Burns american revolution doc
November 18, 2025 at 1:35 AM
started watching Evangelion for the first time and it's great but way too horny for me guys lmao
November 17, 2025 at 1:48 PM
every time i try to be late to something im still somehow early, chronic midwesterner ahhhhh
November 14, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
SCOOP: In text messages sent in 2017, Jeffrey Epstein appears to position himself as a middleman between president Donald Trump’s administration and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. He seemingly represents himself as passing on information directly from Trump to Gates through an intermediary.
Jeffrey Epstein Claimed Intimate Knowledge of Donald Trump’s Views in Texts With Bill Gates Adviser
In text messages from 2017, Jeffrey Epstein seemingly represented himself as positioned to pass information from the Trump White House to Bill Gates through an intermediary.
www.wired.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
The Department of Homeland Security collected data on Chicago residents accused of gang ties to test if police files could feed an FBI watchlist. Months passed before anyone noticed it wasn’t deleted. www.wired.com/story/dhs-ke...
DHS Kept Chicago Police Records for Months in Violation of Domestic Espionage Rules
The Department of Homeland Security collected data on Chicago residents accused of gang ties to test if police files could feed an FBI watchlist. Months passed before anyone noticed it wasn’t deleted.
www.wired.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
EXCLUSIVE: DOGE whistleblower and former SSA Chief Data Officer Chuck Borges is running for office.

In his first interview since announcing his campaign for Maryland State Senate, he describes being sidelined at SSA + why government needs more technologists.

www.wired.com/story/doge-w...
This DOGE Whistleblower Is Running for Office
WIRED spoke with Chuck Borges, the former SSA data chief turned DOGE whistleblower, who is running to represent southern Maryland in the state’s senate.
www.wired.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
NEW: Chuck Borges blew the whistle on DOGE uploading incredibly sensitive Social Security data to an unsecured cloud environment. Now he's running for state senate in Maryland, and gave his first interview to @makenakelly.bsky.social
This DOGE Whistleblower Is Running for Office
WIRED spoke with Chuck Borges, the former SSA data chief turned DOGE whistleblower, who is running to represent southern Maryland in the state’s senate.
www.wired.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by makena kelly
NEW: @wired.com spoke with Chuck Borges, the former SSA data chief turned DOGE whistleblower, who is running to represent southern Maryland in the state’s senate.

This is....the first DOGE'd candidate?! I think?!

it's a worthwhile interview -- read @makenakelly.bsky.social:
This DOGE Whistleblower Is Running for Office
WIRED spoke with Chuck Borges, the former SSA data chief turned DOGE whistleblower, who is running to represent southern Maryland in the state’s senate.
www.wired.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:12 PM