MuckRock is 13 first time donors away from unlocking additional matching support from News Match; if you’ve never donated to MuckRock before please help get us over the finish line!

My Inbox: "I [have] a finalized, patent-pending Python implementation that provides a verified 25% global reduction in carbon emissions through logistics optimization. The math is verified and the architecture is complete; this is a turnkey solution for the global climate crisis." Big if true!

The Wayback Machine was a solution to a problem that shouldn’t have existed. Listen as OGs & advocates explore the past, present & future of the open web on the Future Knowledge #podcast. 🎧Listen & Subscribe ⤵️ futureknowledge.transistor.fm/episodes/the...

Latest: I asked DHS' public affairs office if it considers recording or following federal law enforcement to be obstruction of justice. DHS response: "That sure sounds like obstruction of justice." reason.com/2025/12/22/d...

The @muckrock.com fundraising campaign is wrapping up! We're just 9 people away from 100 new donors — if we hit it, we'll get additional matching funds to help keep our transparency going. Any amount helps so much! www.muckrock.com/donate/

"Do the work. Do it the hard way, the long way, the slow way." @dansinker.com: dansinker.com/posts/2025-1...

Reddit Ads are simultaneously completely unhinged and perfectly targeted.

Even includes BASIC programs to copy by hand — takes me back to the good old days.

Flashback to 2020— On December 19, Trump tweeted, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” Almost overnight, the cheapest room in his D.C. hotel on that January evening surged from $476 to $1,999. Read more on "How Trump’s D.C. Hotel Cashed In On The Jan. 6 Riot"

Destroying educational institutions is definitely the way to go about addressing this problem.

We've got a few weeks to hit our goal of a 100 new donors to unlock matching support — any amount helps!

I asked my students to create guides to the work they did in my "Exploring News Archives with LLMs" class this semester. Feel like I'm gonna enjoy this one, which starts out: "Most guides tell you what worked. This one tells you what broke, why it broke, and what I learned from breaking it."

FOIA fun, here's a CoPilot log from Mineapolis PD where an employee asks AI to rewrite an email that reads: "Good morning, I'm sorry, I don't think we have ever met. What is this in reference too."

Paul Kedrosky sees current surge of continual-learning LLM research chatter a bear sign for how a lot of money is being invested. Sam Altman’s Intelligence Age essay feeling a bit like “Mission Accomplished.” paulkedrosky.com/weekend-thin...

Unemployment insurance in Pennsylvania gives you an extra $3-5/week if you have a dependent child. www.pa.gov/agencies/dli...

This is so perfect. In 2012 CPAC banned the John Birch Society. In 2023 they were welcomed back into the fold. And now here they are working together with TPUSA.

New: here's how a U.S. citizen was scanned with ICE's facial recognition tech. Jesus Gutiérrez was stopped in Chicago by agents, he said he was a citizen. Still detained, put in a car. Only after they scanned his face did they let him go. From 404 Media and Reveal: www.404media.co/how-a-us-cit...

Bovino, the man overseeing mass deportations, publicly declared that we must all have our papers on us, at all times, or we could be stopped, harassed, kidnapped, and detained, as they did with the man in this case, who is a US citizen.

As much as I complain about what's happened to FOIA in the last few months, my goodness I just got a historic FBI file in response to a request I filed 2 years ago and it is....a total bombshell for a chapter I've been working on for ages.

…..unless you plan on getting a new system, that is

A university Board of Trustees unanimously running head first into an agreement with private equity over college athletics. This will turn out great for some people, but long term I have a hard time seeing that being the university community. via @danprimack.bsky.social www.axios.com/newsletters/...

NEW report on the leaked Epstein emails, which were obtained by Bloomberg several months before they were submitted to Distributed Denial of Secrets. Epstein’s Wealth and Power Fueled by Wall Street Connections, Emails Reveal www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Good thing the Geneva Conventions don't apply to CSV files. 😅

"there's a new serif in town"

WAIT WHAT? Camb. Police Commissioner Elow just said that after the cameras were allegedly off, Flock came back and put up two more cameras because they had a "work order" in the system and didn't see functional cameras, so put up more. "Which we just found out about today." Wow.

DetentionReports.com has been updated with ICE detainee population data through November 28, 2025. Information for 232 facilities can now be found on the website.

This👏 is👏 happening👏 now👏!! Come join us on our Reddit r/ukpolitics Ask me Anything thread! 💃 #AMA #TheyWorkForYou #ukpolitics #parliament #government #democracy www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics...

Just rewatched E1 of Succession, where Kendall overspends and pulls every trick he can to buy Vaulter after they walk away. Definitely worked out well! No problems that came back to bite him! Long live Vaulter!

A FOIA requester's dream.

Occasional recommendation of a City is Not a Computer. If I could go back in time and bonk myself over the head with it, would've maybe made my younger self a lot wiser.

I thought Raffi was at least 20 years younger. www.axios.com/2025/12/07/r...

How to read the Epstein files like an expert. (Gift article) www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

“She showed up as scheduled, and when she arrived, officers were asking everyone what country they were from, and if they said a certain country, they were told to step out of line and that their oath ceremonies were canceled.” www.wgbh.org/news/local/2... @gbhnews.bsky.social

A coda of sorts to my Fast Company story from May: Sahil Lavingia has a role with the federal government again, this time with the IRS. www.wired.com/story/big-in...

Don't want to check a Google Sheet every day? No problem. Subscribe to the shared FOIA Advent Google Calendar and get a fresh prompt on your gcal every day of December: bit.ly/31-days-of-f...

IT'S TIIIIIIIIIIME!!! December is here, which means the inaugural 2025 #FOIAdvent calendar has arrived. ☃️✨ Every day this month, the calendar will update with a new records request prompt for you to file with an agency of your choosing, for a fun run of holiday FOIA requests. bit.ly/31-days-of-f...

Going for the clemency-order inclusion.

Here's a brief summary of what I'm thinking about and working on at the @jskstanford.bsky.social this year. jskfellows.stanford.edu/how-newsroom...

"DOJ has assigned Jocelyn Ballantine to this case. You may recall that she made false claims in support of efforts to throw out the Mike Flynn case in 2020."

🚨SCOOP: Amazon is preparing to sever ties with USPS and expand its shipping network as a true coast-to-coast rival. It could cost USPS more than *$6 billion* a year in lost revenue, and lead Amazon to dominate yet another facet of the economy. USPS posted a *$9 billion* loss in 2025.

Move over Spotify. Join us on Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. EST for MuckRock Requests Unwrapped, a collaborative coding session where we will learn about the MuckRock API and try to paint a picture of public records requests made on the platform in 2025. us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

omg people! C-SPAN is now on YouTubeTV!!!!

Enterprise Rent-A-Car license plate revoked after immigration agents illegally swapped it out. This follows our reporting on an encounter where a federal agent told a woman, “You can record all you want. We change the plates out every day.” www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/04/i...

Holy shit. Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Last week a CDC webpage about vaccine safety was edited. Using the "Changes" feature of the Wayback Machine we can see a "before and after" comparison: web.archive.org/web/diff/202... The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine is the change control system the web never had.

Is your head coach's girlfriend filing FOIA requests on your school's top comms official a good look? Asking for a friend

What are your favorite tips for digging up interesting primary source documents? Examples you’re proud of? Doing a presentation this evening for a group of non-journalists about how reporters dig up information.

Related: It’s time to name and shame: Let us know 2025’s worst transparency offenders with a Foilies nomination! www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

Why are Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Elon Musk’s “intimate and embarrassing” emails still secret? www.muckrock.com/news/archive...