ence morse

A few hours after NYT reported that the U.S. bombed an elementary school in Iran, killing many children, the White House last night posted this video mixing airstrike footage with Top Gun, Iron Man, Gladiator, Halo, Breaking Bad, Star Wars, John Wick, Superman, Transformers and Dragon Ball Z

Screenshot of ProPublica webpage titled “Explore Financial Disclosures From President Trump and 1,500 of His Appointees,” accompanied by this blurb: “Use this database to explore potential conflicts of interest for President Donald Trump and his team. The documents disclose positions officials have held outside government, their assets and their debts, among other things.” A search bar prompts the user to search for a person or financial holding.

THREAD: We just released a tool that allows you to search billions of dollars in wealth, ties to the most powerful companies in the country, and details of the personal finances of President Trump and over 1,500 of his appointees.

Here’s how it works 1/

It's NICAR season! I'm in Indy talking about our TikTok data collection project on Friday and midterm elections on Saturday. Come say hi!

Bar chart showing Talarico's performance in the Democratic Texas Senate primary by the racial composition of counties, where he wins just 38% of the vote in counties with over 20% Black residents, but 65% of the vote in counties with over 75% Hispanic residents

About last night: Talarico performed best in 75%+ Hispanic counties — even better than his numbers in the whitest counties — and lagged Crockett in counties that were at least 10% Black. More on Texas w/ the great @lizcgoodwin.bsky.social @ktumulty.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Hello Bluesky! We're the Washington Post data team. We dig through government records, social media, campaign finance reports, weather maps, and any other data we can dig up, download, FOIA or create. Then, we share what we find with you.

We've worked on a lot in the past year. A few highlights 🧵

The hypothetical nuclear attack that escalated the Pentagon’s showdown with Anthropic Start-up Anthropic and the U.S. military are careening toward a clash over government use of artificial intelligence — and whether it should be allowed to kill.

The best story I’ve seen yet on the Anthropic-Pentagon showdown wapo.st/3OCZdqY

How $15.5 billion will be spent on Congress’s pet projects Lawmakers have approved nearly $15.5 billion in earmarks for more than 8,000 projects in the 2026 federal funding package.

Jazz history. Oyster shell recycling. Tuna research. Film education.

The 2026 federal funding package passed earlier this month included nearly $15.5 billion across 8,271 projects in lawmakers’ districts and states. Here’s what’s in store:

NEW: A federal judge said in an opinion issued today that the Trump administration violated the tax law “approximately 42,695 times” in turning over immigrant data to ICE

Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency Activists who say they are in coordination with the White House are circulating a draft executive order that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting.

Exclusive: Pro-Trump activists are circulating a draft executive order alleging Chinese interference in the 2020 election, proposing a national emergency to expand presidential power over voting, like banning mail ballots and voting machines.

Incredible front-page story from Ukraine by a reporter and photojournalist that the Post just laid off wapo.st/4rKFape

As MAGA embraces Erika Kirk, Candace Owens goes on the attack The right-wing influencer launched a video series about Charlie Kirk’s widow that is provoking outrage among conservatives — and raising Owens’s profile.

Candace Owens is aiming to take down Erika Kirk with a new video series that so far has managed to enrage just about everyone without really making any specific allegations at all.

I wrote about the attention-economy logic behind Owens' attacks on a "grieving widow:" wapo.st/3OKDYmU (gift link)

Judge says government may not search devices seized from Post reporter A federal judge in Virginia denied the Justice Department’s request to search a Washington Post reporter’s devices in a national security leak probe.

NEW: Judge blocks DOJ from searching reporter Hannah Natanson's seized devices, says court will review them. The judge also said a DOJ filter team's search of work-product would be "the equivalent of leaving the government’s fox in charge of the Washington Post’s henhouse"
wapo.st/4kR9c7P

U.S. women’s hockey wins OT stunner over Canada in gold medal game Trailing for most of the game, the U.S. scored late in the third period and again in overtime to secure the victory.

Breaking news: The U.S. women’s hockey team beat Canada in overtime, 2-1, to win gold at the Olympics.

Wishing a meaningful & reflective Mark Wahlberg 40 Day Challenge to all who observe.

When I analyzed all of Kennedy’s social media posts since 2022, we saw that he shifted to talking dramatically more about food than vaccines when he became HHS secretary; re food, Bigtree told the Post “It was an easier topic to sell to moms across America.”

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Which places in the U.S. give people the most opportunities to participate in Winter Olympic sports? (Spoiler: The cold places. But it's more interesting and nuanced than that!)

We mapped it! And you can look up your city and see which sports are nearby.

wapo.st/4qlkAKf

As The Post reported first this morning ;) www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

IRS improperly disclosed confidential immigrant tax data to DHS The tax agency only recently discovered it improperly disclosed tax information on thousands of the wrong people to immigration enforcement.

🚨 SCOOP: The IRS improperly disclosed confidential immigrant tax information to DHS, per sources.

It opens up HUGE liability for the US government.

Trump is suing the IRS over substantially the same disclosures -- for $10 billion.

🎁 Gift link:

Number of AI use cases reported by federal government

New: How the federal government is using AI

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/09/trump-administration-ai-push/

Trump set off a surge of AI in the federal government. See what happened. The Trump administration is accelerating AI adoption across government, embedding the technology in policing, health care, defense and science.

Orders came down from the White House budget office in April urging every corner of the government to deploy AI.

Officials across the government answered the call, according to a Post analysis of more than two dozen recent agency disclosures on AI use.

today I learned Austin has... curling teams?! (and 18 Texans in the olympics!!!)

killer piece from the best sports data journalist in the biz @emilygiam.bsky.social

Explore where Winter Olympic sports are most accessible across the U.S. See which winter sport facilities are near you and if any Winter Olympians come from your state.

Do you sometimes watch the Winter Olympics and think ... who even does these sports?

We analyzed the locations of more than 2,500 training facilities for Winter Olympic sports. Check to see what's near you — and which sports are hard to find.

wapo.st/4qlkAKf

All worth a read as you watch these great sporting events and a reminder that the Washington Post newsroom remains committed to telling the story of our time to the best of our ability.

Also adding another important GoFundMe. This one is for our absolutely brilliant and generous international employees & local staff who were laid off: bsky.app/profile/myhl...

Luis is a brilliant brilliant graphics reporter: bsky.app/profile/lmel...

Adrián Blanco Ramos | Adrián Blanco Ramos I am one of the hundreds of colleagues who were laid off by The Washington Post, which has chosen to drastically reduce its visual and international reach and coverage. After nearly seven years at th...

Adrián has produced/edited some of my fave recent visuals at The Post:

www.linkedin.com/posts/adrian...

I think I'll have more to say tomorrow but for right now, just: @emilygiam.bsky.social *taught herself to code* so she could tackle all the cool stories she came up with on the sports beat. It's been amazing to have her as a teammate and a collaborator, and we're going to miss her a ton. 💜

Emily is the best sports data journalist working right now, and I have no doubt she will continue to do incredible things in whichever newsroom is lucky enough to hire her. I’ll deeply miss getting to work with such an amazing colleague (and fellow FPL fan!!!)

Amid the hundreds of colleagues we’ve lost today, I wanted to highlight the BRILLIANT data/graphics folks who any newsroom should be fighting to hire right now—threading here:

Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund

We at the @postguild.bsky.social are raising money for the hundreds of journalists the Post just laid off. This goes to the people who are hurting, not the Post. Or if you'd rather, go subscribe to an independent journalist. Support is hugely appreciated.

www.gofundme.com/f/standing-t...