Zak Cassel
@zakcassel.bsky.social
investigative reporter at wfyi, the indianapolis public radio station
zcassel@wfyi.org // dm for signal
work in center for public integrity, the intercept, montana free press, nyt
zcassel@wfyi.org // dm for signal
work in center for public integrity, the intercept, montana free press, nyt
Reposted by Zak Cassel
US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’
US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’
USAid cuts to clinics dispensing antiretroviral drugs will be ‘death sentence for mothers and children’, expert warns
Sweeping notices of termination of funding have been received by organisations working with HIV and Aids across Africa, with dire…
www.theguardian.com
February 28, 2025 at 11:48 AM
US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’
Reposted by Zak Cassel
I've be struggling to comprehend how the sweeping disruptions to federal programs and mountain of executive orders is having a real-time effect on people here in Indianapolis.
So I'm starting this thread to keep track of stories documenting the impact.
Let's go.
So I'm starting this thread to keep track of stories documenting the impact.
Let's go.
February 26, 2025 at 3:29 PM
I've be struggling to comprehend how the sweeping disruptions to federal programs and mountain of executive orders is having a real-time effect on people here in Indianapolis.
So I'm starting this thread to keep track of stories documenting the impact.
Let's go.
So I'm starting this thread to keep track of stories documenting the impact.
Let's go.
Reposted by Zak Cassel
NEW: I got my hands on a new Bureau of Prisons policy that requires transgender women in federal prisons to hand over any female-identifying clothing and other commissary items, like women's razors and hair care
www.npr.org/2025/02/05/n...
www.npr.org/2025/02/05/n...
'We do not exist anymore': New prison rules ban female clothing for trans women
As federal lawsuits challenge President Trump's executive order impacting trans inmates, the Bureau of Prisons is starting to roll out new policies demanding trans women hand over female-identifying c...
www.npr.org
February 5, 2025 at 2:32 PM
NEW: I got my hands on a new Bureau of Prisons policy that requires transgender women in federal prisons to hand over any female-identifying clothing and other commissary items, like women's razors and hair care
www.npr.org/2025/02/05/n...
www.npr.org/2025/02/05/n...
Reposted by Zak Cassel
Dear OPM FOIA staff -
Remember to preserve all of these email responses, as we will be submitting FOIA requests for this consolidated compilation of information on what the entire federal government did last week.
Thx -
FOIA community
Remember to preserve all of these email responses, as we will be submitting FOIA requests for this consolidated compilation of information on what the entire federal government did last week.
Thx -
FOIA community
February 22, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Dear OPM FOIA staff -
Remember to preserve all of these email responses, as we will be submitting FOIA requests for this consolidated compilation of information on what the entire federal government did last week.
Thx -
FOIA community
Remember to preserve all of these email responses, as we will be submitting FOIA requests for this consolidated compilation of information on what the entire federal government did last week.
Thx -
FOIA community
Reposted by Zak Cassel
Judith Butler: "Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic, because that means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice, and a third, a fourth, and then what happens?"
Judith Butler, philosopher: ‘If you sacrifice a minority like trans people, you are operating within a fascist logic’
A leading figure in feminism and gender studies, the thinker welcomes EL PAÍS in California after being voted one of the most influential minds in the world
english.elpais.com
February 21, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Judith Butler: "Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic, because that means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice, and a third, a fourth, and then what happens?"
Reposted by Zak Cassel
DHS has removed manual guidance barring investigations solely based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
This is a prerequisite to targeting the LGBTQ community with criminal investigations solely based on being LGBTQ.
news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...
This is a prerequisite to targeting the LGBTQ community with criminal investigations solely based on being LGBTQ.
news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...
DHS Scraps Ban on Surveillance Based on Sexual Orientation (1)
A Department of Homeland Security unit eliminated policies prohibiting personnel from conducting intelligence activities based solely on a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
news.bgov.com
February 20, 2025 at 4:02 AM
DHS has removed manual guidance barring investigations solely based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
This is a prerequisite to targeting the LGBTQ community with criminal investigations solely based on being LGBTQ.
news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...
This is a prerequisite to targeting the LGBTQ community with criminal investigations solely based on being LGBTQ.
news.bgov.com/bloomberg-go...
Reposted by Zak Cassel
This is also why I don’t think journalists should allow people to use “woke” without forcing them to provide a specific explanation of what is meant. Too much focus on racial justice? Too much focus on LGBTQ tolerance? Make them say it. Because to be blaming marginalized folks for what’s happening…
February 17, 2025 at 2:35 AM
This is also why I don’t think journalists should allow people to use “woke” without forcing them to provide a specific explanation of what is meant. Too much focus on racial justice? Too much focus on LGBTQ tolerance? Make them say it. Because to be blaming marginalized folks for what’s happening…
Reposted by Zak Cassel
Last night, we broke the news that the top US election security watchdog has frozen all of its election security work and is reviewing everything it has done to help state and local officials secure their elections for the past eight years. https://wrd.cm/3QkfGh3
Top US Election Security Watchdog Forced to Stop Election Security Work
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has frozen efforts to aid states in securing elections, according to an internal memo viewed by WIRED.
wrd.cm
February 15, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Last night, we broke the news that the top US election security watchdog has frozen all of its election security work and is reviewing everything it has done to help state and local officials secure their elections for the past eight years. https://wrd.cm/3QkfGh3
Reposted by Zak Cassel
Careful what you post: ICE is seeking private contractors to conduct social media surveillance including detection of merely "negative" sentiment about the agency's leadership, agents, and general operations theintercept.com/2025/02/11/i...
ICE Wants to Know If You’re Posting Negative Things About It Online
ICE wants to hire contractors to monitor social media for threats. Those who criticize the agency could be pulled into the dragnet.
theintercept.com
February 11, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Careful what you post: ICE is seeking private contractors to conduct social media surveillance including detection of merely "negative" sentiment about the agency's leadership, agents, and general operations theintercept.com/2025/02/11/i...
Reposted by Zak Cassel
NEW: Mayor Eric Adams gathered his top commissioners and officials early Monday to give marching orders under the new administration: don’t criticize President Trump, don’t interfere with immigration enforcement and trust the mayor, multiple sources told THE CITY.
Mayor Adams to Top Commissioners: Don’t Criticize Trump, Don’t Interfere with Immigration Enforcement
After weeks of confusing messaging on ICE raids, the mayor ordered his staff to stifle criticism of the feds and that he alone will make sure NYC doesn’t lose funding.
buff.ly
February 10, 2025 at 6:07 PM
NEW: Mayor Eric Adams gathered his top commissioners and officials early Monday to give marching orders under the new administration: don’t criticize President Trump, don’t interfere with immigration enforcement and trust the mayor, multiple sources told THE CITY.
Reposted by Zak Cassel
In preparation for today’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, state police forced over 100 homeless men and women onto buses under threat of arrest, dumping them in an unheated warehouse. Tents destroyed, belongings lost. Press are barred from the warehouse.
The price tag for this cruelty? $17.5 million
The price tag for this cruelty? $17.5 million
Louisiana coerced unhoused people into an unheated warehouse – and paid $17.5m for it
Dozens of New Orleanians were bused to a site with insufficient heating and blankets days before the city is to host the Super Bowl
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2025 at 2:48 PM
In preparation for today’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, state police forced over 100 homeless men and women onto buses under threat of arrest, dumping them in an unheated warehouse. Tents destroyed, belongings lost. Press are barred from the warehouse.
The price tag for this cruelty? $17.5 million
The price tag for this cruelty? $17.5 million
Reposted by Zak Cassel
In a new lawsuit filed against Trump by state AGs, a family with a trans kid shares she died by suicide last month citing fears Trump would deny her access to gender-affirming care. "Her parents have expressed fear...that what happened to their daughter does not happen to other children."
![The serious concerns over how the Order will detrimentally impact transgender
youth cannot be overstated. One Washingtonian, as her parents describe her, was a bright and
gentle soul who loved playing musical instruments, trying new things, and playing Magic the
Gathering. She was excited to learn Japanese and the impact of gender-affirming care was
immediately clear to her family. Her parents described that “her joy was clear with every new
milestone in her transition. She was so happy to get to the next step, to get closer to presenting
in a way that was true to herself.” But the day before the presidential election, she shared,
“[t]omorrow I get to find out if I’m illegal.” After the election, she asked her parents if they
could move to Canada because she was fearful of new restrictions on transgender youth and
worried about losing access to gender-affirming care. In January 2025, she took her life. After
the Order issued, her parents expressed that the outlook for transgender futures looks scary and
shared fears of what ending gender-affirming care would have meant for their daughter’s access
to therapy, puberty-delaying medication, hormones, and hope of surgery. Her parents have
expressed fear for the many lives who depend on gender-affirming care and that what happened
to their daughter does not happen to any other children.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mlmouohgzbjofidukcp4pxf2/bafkreich7jyv3lnkmd5r234itpdhtvavgblc46ai6d47tb4i7oxgfga2ym@jpeg)
February 7, 2025 at 6:30 PM
In a new lawsuit filed against Trump by state AGs, a family with a trans kid shares she died by suicide last month citing fears Trump would deny her access to gender-affirming care. "Her parents have expressed fear...that what happened to their daughter does not happen to other children."
Reposted by Zak Cassel
This is a fantastic and essential piece from @janus.bsky.social www.404media.co/you-cant-pos...
You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism
Authoritarians and tech CEOs now share the same goal: to keep us locked in an eternal doomscroll instead of organizing against them, Janus Rose writes.
www.404media.co
February 7, 2025 at 1:48 AM
This is a fantastic and essential piece from @janus.bsky.social www.404media.co/you-cant-pos...
Reposted by Zak Cassel
NEW: Elon Musk's buddies and DOGE underlings are working in the dark to make drastic changes to the US government.
@propublica.org is shining light on them with our new tracker.
Read. Share. Most importantly, send us your Musk tips: projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-do...
@propublica.org is shining light on them with our new tracker.
Read. Share. Most importantly, send us your Musk tips: projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-do...
Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been unleashed on federal agencies. ProPublica is attempting to document who is working with him and what they are doing.
projects.propublica.org
February 6, 2025 at 11:15 PM
NEW: Elon Musk's buddies and DOGE underlings are working in the dark to make drastic changes to the US government.
@propublica.org is shining light on them with our new tracker.
Read. Share. Most importantly, send us your Musk tips: projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-do...
@propublica.org is shining light on them with our new tracker.
Read. Share. Most importantly, send us your Musk tips: projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-do...