from 1868 to 2025 there was little dispute about what the birthright clause meant and the idea that the past year has been some great scholarly debate is absurd. a handful of partisans and hacks have churned out junk so that the president can get what he wants. that’s it.

A kind shout-out of my essay on elementary school career day by @niemanstoryboard.org and @markarms.bsky.social!

If a secdef violating the 14th amendment rights of US servicemembers by denying promotions based on race isn’t impeachable then I don’t see what is. The man would rather the military be racist than effective.

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: @kerryhowley.bsky.social @nymag.com on Camp Mystic, and remembering Tracy Kidder. Plus: @leahsottile.bsky.social @mallarytenore.bsky.social niemanstoryboard.org/2026/03/27/i...

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: Join me next weekend in Boston for my conversation with @praddenkeefe.bsky.social about his new book, LONDON FALLING. Plus: J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Awards. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/03/20/p... #longreads #journalism

Royer Perez-Jimenez was 19 years old. He died by suicide at 3am on March 16 at Glades County Detention Center in Florida. He is the 2nd person to die in ICE custody this week, the 13th this year, and the 42nd under Trump. 🧵

“A handful of Mr. Chavez’s relatives & former U.F.W. leaders have been aware for years about various allegations…but there is no evidence that they made efforts to fully investigate…acknowledge the victims or apologize to them. Instead, many of the women say they were discouraged from speaking out”

Border Patrol agents have been roving from city to city over the last 15 months, far from their home bases in California and elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border, engaged in an unprecedented mass deportation campaign.  A collaboration w/ @calmatters.org @evidentmedia.org and @bellingcat.com

Really great reporting from @sergioolmos.bsky.social and team documenting how the same federal agents have moved from city to city over the past year to inflict violence on the public.

I've posted about this before but if there are any editors interested in a story about a group of young mothers fighting to improve work conditions for pregnant workers, I'd love to pitch you a story I'm trying to find a home for! (The pitch is not this vague! Connects to a national issue too.)

Enjoyed talking with @markarms.bsky.social at the Neiman Storyboard about my Shakopee/ICE story. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/03/13/h...

Plus: indeed! Send us your (not-typical) three-minute audio climate stories by April 6. After you devour the latest newsletter from @markarms.bsky.social and @niemanstoryboard.org of course. Details below and here: audioflux.org/circuit07

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: @stephenrodrick.bsky.social on his story about ICE in small-town Minnesota, and what it means to be a generalist. Plus: @jatomic.bsky.social's next season of Audio Flux. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/03/13/h...

*taps internet microphone* After months of work, a project i've been coordinating for @literaryhub.bsky.social in conjunction with @maris.bsky.social is now live ... We've commissioned 13 reviews of books by LGBTQ folks not covered by the NYTBR under Pamela Paul ... lithub.com/what-was-los...

Twenty-three people have died since October in ICE custody, as advocates warn about overcrowding and health care access. n.pr/4ujkO80

Every time I open a news app or site and this story isn’t being discussed or featured prominently I feel like I’m losing my mind. Do not look away.

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: @irincarmon.bsky.social annotates a chapter from her book "Unbearable," plus @shorensteinctr.bsky.social @stephenrodrick.bsky.social and a new film about the Renaud brothers. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/03/06/b...

Congrats to the wonderful @saribotton.bsky.social and @oldstermag.bsky.social!

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: Featuring Roy Peter Clark on storytelling lessons for students, National Magazine Award finalists + @joepompeo.bsky.social @wearesfj.bsky.social @longlead.com niemanstoryboard.org/2026/02/27/r...

This is bigotry, pure and simple. open.substack.com/pub/erininth...

I'm really proud to have helped produce this. It's the start of a new era of investigative, documentary storytelling at @kuow.org. "Adults in the Room" launches our new Focus podcast channel, where we'll drop more deeply-reported series — some of which are already in production. Subscribe!

What's more shocking than ICE's plan to cram as many 8,500 humans into massive, soul-crushing warehouses? Seeing the actual DHS floor plan that echoes slavery ships and history's worst gulags with no rec space but a gun range for guards My new column on the camps www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org, on The Atlantic's measles essay and the second person POV, and my Storyboard podcast chat with @tromano.bsky.social about the pros and cons of writing an oral history. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/02/20/s...

I had SO much fun talking with @markarms.bsky.social about the pain and process of writing an oral history! Take a listen and read his newsletter!

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org, on The Atlantic's measles essay and the second person POV, and my Storyboard podcast chat with @tromano.bsky.social about the pros and cons of writing an oral history. niemanstoryboard.org/2026/02/20/s...

"A small club." Today's article pick from Damn History, a free newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to writer @markarms.bsky.social & @niemanstoryboard.org! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe niemanstoryboard.org/2026/02/19/t...

For this week's @niemanstoryboard.org podcast, I talked to @tromano.bsky.social about how to write an oral history — and how she managed to stay organized while reporting her definitive history of the Village Voice, "The Freaks Came Out to Write." #podcasts #booksky #longreads

"Students explore questions such as: When, if ever, is it OK for journalists to write with interiority from their subjects’ minds? Students constantly question whether a journalist is exploiting someone or shedding light." niemanstoryboard.org/2026/02/13/t...

i think jesse jackson was one of the most important american political figures of the post-war era and i think that his 1984 and 1988 campaigns for the democratic nomination still have a great deal to teach about forging a path to a more egalitarian world. RIP.

Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?

I feel like I am going a little bit crazy listening to Democratic lawmakers "demand" that ICE get judicial warrants before it arrests people in their homes, given that the Fourth Amendment has imposed this requirement on law enforcement officers for, oh, roughly 250 years now

i think this more than anything is what miller wants. vast detention camps with all of the suffering and death that means.

NEW: ICE has a plan to lease offices across the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. Today, @wired.com is publishing dozens of those locations. Many are near schools, medical offices, and places of worship. Vital work from @leahfeiger.bsky.social that I'm proud to publish.

"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.

President Mandela said, "there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."

My colleague got into Trump's sprawling family detention camp, which is full of toddlers, kids, & teens. - Kids have cut themselves or talked about suicide -There's worms & mold in food -300 kids have been held for 30+ days, far longer court settlement allows www.propublica.org/article/life...

There are multiple arenas for fighting these: corporate, political, municipal, etc. It’s worth reminding politicians of what happened to other concentration camps after the moment passed—will they want to have blessed this for their district when the trials begin?

Concentration camps: “For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick."

Hey guess what? @ryanjhaas.bsky.social and I are creating our own news outlet to cover the PNW, launching soon. Please consider subscribing.

"The news throughout the early weeks of 2026 reminded us that the concept of “both sides” in journalism is a deeply flawed, and even dangerous, way to think about reporting a story — especially when one side is actively trafficking in disinformation." niemanstoryboard.org/2026/02/06/i...

NYT confirming MS NOW reporting: Prosecutors began investigating Renee Good's killing, then Washington told them to stop. Federal prosecutors had a warrant to collect evidence from Good's vehicle, but Trump leaders said to drop it. About a dozen prosecutors have since departed.

Concentration camps: stories of as many as 50 people to a cell — men and women in some cases — with no windows and limited airflow, a single camera-monitored toilet, aluminum blankets, no showers and poor quality food.

When the U.S. Supreme Court said that you could detain people based on their race, their accent, or the language they spoke… there is nothing to preclude ICE from doing that while you’re standing in line getting ready to cast a ballot. Stacey Abrams Voting-rights expert

A Mexican immigrant whose skull was broken during his arrest by immigration officers last month in Minnesota says the beating was unprovoked. A judge ruled his arrest was unlawful.

"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)

A man taken into custody in Rochester Thursday by federal immigration agents and now held at the Whipple Federal Building in the Twin Cities is a recent organ transplant recipient who is without his needed anti-rejection medication, state Rep. Kim Hicks tells MPR News.

The Washington Post just laid off its entire award-winning photo team. They were our eyes in places we'll never see. It's a horrifying loss at a time when lying governments, propaganda and AI slop are on the rise.

welp, this destroyed me first thing upon waking up