Trump’s DOJ turns back to 2020 as the Hantavirus comes out of hiding.

Betraying Our Troops: with Jarrod Zisser

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while trump & hegseth dine on lobster 🦞 and steak 🥩 deployed service members reportedly famished?

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Trump’s DOJ turns back to 2020 as the Hantavirus comes out of hiding.

Good morning, While families are still trying to keep up with health care bills, grocery prices, rent, and daily costs, Washington is once again consumed by political fights, investigations, raids, and expensive projects. If you value fact-based independent reporting, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support this work and get full access to deeper coverage, detailed breakdowns, and subscriber-only posts. Here’s the news: * DOJ seeks names of 2020 Georgia election workers: The Justice Department is seeking names and information tied to people who worked the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia. Fulton County has been at the center of Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, even though Georgia’s 2020 presidential vote was counted three times, including once by hand, and each count confirmed Joe Biden’s win. This matters because poll workers are not powerful politicians. They are regular people who helped run an election. When the federal government seeks their names years later, it raises serious questions about privacy, pressure, and the safety of election workers. * Fulton County loses fight over seized ballots, for now: A federal judge ruled that the government can keep 2020 ballots and election materials seized by the FBI from Fulton County. County lawyers had argued the seizure was improper and unconstitutional. The Justice Department says it is investigating possible irregularities from the 2020 election. The larger issue is not just one county. It is whether old election fights are being used to keep pressure on local election offices heading into the next election cycle. * FBI raids office and business tied to Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas: The FBI searched offices and a cannabis business connected to Virginia Democratic state Sen. Louise Lucas, one of the most powerful Democrats in the state. Federal officials say it is part of an ongoing corruption investigation, with reported questions tied to bribery and a cannabis dispensary. Lucas was not arrested. Her team says no legislative materials were seized. Lucas called the raid political and pointed to her role in pushing Virginia’s redistricting fight. At the very least, this is a story that needs careful reporting, not instant conclusions. The public needs facts, not spin. * Trump’s ballroom promise faces new taxpayer questions: Trump said his White House ballroom project would be paid for by private money. Now Senate Republicans have proposed $1 billion in taxpayer funding for Secret Service security upgrades that could include the ballroom. Trump says the ballroom cost is now expected to be under $400 million, up from the original $200 million estimate, and he still says private donations will cover the project itself. But the question is simple: if taxpayers are helping pay for related costs, the public deserves a clear answer about what is private, what is public, and why this is a priority while families are still struggling. * Cruise ship hantavirus outbreak triggers global monitoring: Health officials are monitoring travelers after a hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship. Three people have died, and several others are suspected of being infected. The CDC says the risk to the American public is extremely low right now. People in Georgia, Arizona, and California are being monitored, and officials say the known U.S. travelers have not shown symptoms. Hantavirus usually spreads through infected rodents, but the Andes strain is the one type known to sometimes spread between people through close contact. This is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to pay attention to public health systems, because early tracking is how outbreaks are contained. This is the part that matters. When government power is used against election workers, lawmakers, immigrants, protesters, or anyone else, the public has a right to demand answers. And when public money may be used for a project that was sold as privately funded, people have a right to ask why that money is not going toward the costs hitting families every day. That is the job of a free press. Not to assume. Not to protect the powerful. To ask the questions out loud. If you value fact-based independent reporting, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support this work and get full access to deeper coverage, detailed breakdowns, and subscriber-only posts. See you Tonight for the evening News Get full access to The TAKE with Jerrod Zisser at jerrodzisser.substack.com/subscribe [https://jerrodzisser.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

363 Journalists Killed in 940 Days: The Cost of Silencing the Press

On This World PRESS Freedom Day I want to talk about the Three hundred sixty-three journalists killed in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon over the last 940 days. Independant journalism survives because readers like you help support it. If you can please support my work by becoming a paid subscriber. 363 journalists. Sit with that number for a moment. Because it is specific. Because behind every one of those 363 names was a person who got up, picked up a camera, opened a notebook, charged a phone, checked a source, put on a press vest, and stepped into a place most people would do everything possible to avoid and escape. That number, 363 means roughly one journalist was killed every two and a half days. that means nearly 12 journalists killed every month. That is about 141 journalists killed per year. That is a huge number. By any historical measure, that is extraordinary. Press freedom groups and researchers have already described this war as the deadliest conflict on record for journalists. Brown University’s Costs of War Project found that a lower Gaza-only total had already exceeded the number of journalists killed in the U.S. Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan combined. That comparison should stop anyone who cares about journalism, war reporting, or the public’s right to know. I write this as an Independent journalist that has been on the ground all over this country documenting and reporting the people’s response to the Trump Administrations policies, But I also write this as someone who has seen combat in the Middle East. Before I worked in news, I served in the United States Marine Corps infantry and completed two separate tours in Iraq. I know what it feels like to be in a place where the sound of incoming fire changes the air around you. I know what it means to read a street, a rooftop, a window, a vehicle, or a crowd differently because your life may depend on it. I know what fear feels like when it has to be managed, not performed. I know what it means to keep doing your job while your body is telling you to find cover. That does not mean I know what these journalist in Gaza, the West Bank, or Lebanon has experienced. I do not. No one can fully claim another person’s war or experience. But I do understand something about the pressure of operating in a conflict zone. I understand the exhaustion. The calculations. The constant awareness of danger. The way ordinary decisions become life-or-death decisions. The way you can be afraid and still move forward because people are counting on you to do the job. And that is what makes the deaths of these journalists so significant. They were not covering war from a safe distance. Many were living in it while documenting it. They were reporting on bombings, displacement, starvation, grief, collapsed hospitals, destroyed neighborhoods, and mass civilian suffering while their own families and communities were often in danger. That is a level of professional and personal burden most journalists and people will never be asked to carry. War and conflict reporting has always been dangerous. Reporters have died in battlefields across the world for generations. But the scale and speed of this death toll stand apart. When journalists are killed at this rate, the issue is no longer only individual risk. It becomes a collapse in the basic protection of the people whose job is to document war for the rest of the world. Journalists are not combatants. They are not supposed to be treated as targets. Their role is to gather evidence, verify claims, document consequences, and help the public understand what is happening when governments, militaries, and armed groups all have reasons to control the story. That work matters most in war because war is where truth is often hardest to reach. In conflict, every side has a narrative. Every side has language designed to justify its actions. Every side wants certain images shown and others ignored. Journalists are the people sent into that fog to bring back facts. Who was killed? Where did it happen? What was hit? Who gave that order? What do the records show? What do witnesses say? What does the evidence support? Those questions are the basic foundation of journalism. And when the people asking those questions are killed by the hundreds, the public loses more than reporters. It loses witnesses. It loses documentation. It loses independent records of what happened in real time. It loses the ability to challenge official versions of events with facts gathered on the ground. That is why 363 is not just a death toll. It is a warning. It is a warning about what happens when war becomes too dangerous to cover. It is a warning about how quickly the historical record can be weakened. And it’s a warning about how civilian suffering can be minimized when the people documenting it are no longer alive to file the story. For journalists, there is also a professional grief in this number. We know what it means to chase confirmation under pressure. We know what it means to get the wording right because one wrong sentence can mislead the public. We Also know what it means to keep calling, keep checking, keep recording, and keep asking questions when powerful people want nothing more than to silence us. We cannot be silenced. The free press will never be silenced for one simple reason. The truth belongs to the people, and that truth matters more than the dangers that come with it holding power accountable. The journalists killed in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon were doing more than producing content. They were preserving a record. They were making sure the world could not say it did not know or that it never happened. That is the core of the profession. Journalism, at its best, is an act of public service. I would argue the most important and powerful as well. It is not about fame or followers. It is not about access. It is not even about being seen. It is about making sure the public can see, remember, and maybe not go in a certain direction again. That is why the deaths of 363 journalists should matter far beyond the media industry. It should matter to anyone who believes war must be documented. It should matter to anyone who believes civilians should not disappear into statistics. It should matter to anyone who believes power should be watched, especially when bombs are falling and borders are closed. From one journalist to the journalists who have covered this war, and to those who have covered combat and conflict anywhere in the world Remember, your work matters. To those still reporting under threat, your work is seen. To those who have been killed, your work remains part of the record. To the families who lost them, I hope the world will understand this clearly. Those men and women were are not just names on a list. They were witnesses. They were professionals. They were human beings doing one of the most dangerous and necessary jobs on earth. I have seen combat. I know enough to understand that no one walks into danger casually. You feel it everywhere. You carry it constantly. You try like hell to manage it. And, you know with every part of you that your job is so important you do it anyway. The people deserve their story being told no matter the sacrifice. That is what these journalists did. They documented and reported war while living inside it. They gave the world evidence, images, names, dates, places, and testimony. They made sure history had witnesses and future generations had facts. When 363 journalists are killed in only 940 days, the world has a responsibility to say what that really means. It means the press has suffered a historic loss. It means the public has lost hundreds of people who were trying to show the truth. And it means every journalist killed in conflict deserves to be remembered not only for how they died, but for what they were doing when they were killed and who for. They were bearing witness. A free press only works because of the journalists and the people. Independant journalism survives because readers like you help support it. If you can please support my work by becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to The TAKE with Jerrod Zisser at jerrodzisser.substack.com/subscribe [https://jerrodzisser.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

ICE Hires Contractors Accused Of Torturing Children Durning Trumps First Term. Again, For Immigrant Children

Good evening, Tonight’s stories all come back to one basic question: who gets to use power, and who gets to check it? If you value fact-based independent reporting, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support this work and get full access to deeper coverage, detailed breakdowns, and subscriber-only posts. Here’s the news: * Trump administration bypasses normal review for $8.6 billion in Middle East arms sales. The Trump administration has approved more than $8.6 billion in emergency arms sales to Israel, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. The largest share is going to Qatar, which was approved for about $4 billion in Patriot air and missile defense support, plus nearly $1 billion in advanced precision rocket systems. Kuwait was approved for about $2.5 billion in an air and missile defense system. Israel and the UAE were also approved for advanced precision rocket systems. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said an emergency exists, which allowed the administration to bypass the normal congressional review process. The State Department says the sales support U.S. national security. Democratic lawmakers say Congress should have had its usual oversight role before the weapons moved forward. * Congress demands answers on Kristi Noem’s Coast Guard housing. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is asking for records about Kristi Noem’s reported use of the Coast Guard commandant’s residence at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling near Washington, D.C. The request seeks lease agreements, waivers, rental payment records, contracts, and any policies used to justify access to the home. The letter says it is unclear why a Department of State employee should be housed in the Coast Guard commandant’s residence for months. This is an inquiry, not a finding of wrongdoing. But the oversight question is clear: who approved the housing, what rule allowed it, and did Noem pay the federal government for use of the property? * ICE hires contractor accused in lawsuit tied to family separation. ICE has hired MVM Inc., a private security and government services contractor, to help locate unaccompanied immigrant children for what the government calls safety and wellness checks. These are children who came to the United States without a parent, were placed with sponsors, and are still going through immigration court. ICE says the goal is to make sure children are safe, in school, and not being abused or trafficked. Immigration advocates warn the same process could also be used to find children or sponsors for deportation. The concern is MVM’s history. Migrant families accused the company in federal court of mistreatment tied to family separation during the first Trump administration, including claims of cruel treatment. MVM denies wrongdoing. A judge dismissed some claims but allowed key parts of the case to continue. The central question is simple: should a company facing those allegations be hired to help locate vulnerable children? That is the throughline tonight: oversight. Not every story is the same. But each one shows why checks and balances matter. Weapons sales, public housing, immigration enforcement, and private contractors all involve public power. And public power should never run on trust alone. There should be records. There should be answers. And there should be accountability. I’ll see you soon. If you value fact-based independent reporting, consider becoming a paid subscriber to support this work and get full access to deeper coverage, detailed breakdowns, and subscriber-only posts. Get full access to The TAKE with Jerrod Zisser at jerrodzisser.substack.com/subscribe [https://jerrodzisser.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]