Flood the valley

Far-right troll account followed by JD Vance on X unmasked “HowlingMutant,” who jokes about rape and the Holocaust, is Alexander Norden of New York City

NEW: We’ve identified the man who runs the far-right troll account on X “HowlingMutant,” whose jokes about rape and the Holocaust have earned him nearly 200,000 followers, which include Vice President JD Vance. His name is Alexander Norden, from Rockaway Park in New York City.

The Shocking Secrets of Madison Square Garden's Surveillance Machine Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more.

Famously vengeful Knicks owner Jim Dolan has long spied on people at his iconic arenas. WIRED goes deep inside the operation that allegedly tracked a trans woman, lawyers, protesters, and more. www.wired.com/story/madiso...

‘Everyone is Replaceable’: Death Rattles Oregon Amazon Facility A worker died at Amazon’s Troutdale warehouse last week. Employees were told to look away.

For more than a week, Amazon has managed to keep a death at its Troutdale, Oregon, facility out of public view.

Workers I spoke to are pissed.

Alligator Alcatraz phones were cut off. Then the beatings began, court docs say Attorneys say the Trump and DeSantis administrations are disregarding a court order requiring access to phones and attorneys for detainees.

April 2: guards cut all phone access in the housing units without warning. When detainees protested, CRS officers allegedly punched a man, threw another to the ground, kicked him in the head, and pinned him by the neck. A third detainee's wrist was broken. The entire cage was pepper-sprayed.

The FCC just saved Netgear from its router ban for no obvious reason How did Netgear do it? Nobody’s saying.

Last month the Trump FCC announced a "ban" on all foreign made routers (almost all of them), demanding ambiguous favors from manufacturers if they wanted to continue doing business in the U.S.

Netgear is the first to gain approval. Did they agree to bribes? Backdoors? who knows! 🗽💩

stargate is dead - or more operatively never actually existed. Norway was never happening. Next up on the deathwatch is Stargate Argentina, which was only ever a letter of intent.

Also fair to ask whether OpenAI ever takes Oracle's data centers.

www.wheresyoured.at/hatersguide-...

So glad this story is gaining traction & wanted to highlight that @andrewdeck.bsky.social at @niemanlab.org broke the news that NYT/Guardian/USA Today were blocking IA earlier this year. Encourage all to read: www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/news...

A lot of people in tech need to go to the Hague. They know exactly how these tools operate. There is no mystifying how they want to track and control people. One of the things that needs to be considered is statistical population control at scale. These are war machines with operators.

Our submission to the UN Working Group regarding the use of tech in the operations and activities of mercenaries, mercenary-related actors and private military and security companies, warns that states should stop relying on the private sector for digital operations. citizenlab.ca/wp-content/u...

Tuan Van Bui, the son of a U.S. soldier in Vietnam, “is the second person to die at Miami CC this year and continues the morbid pattern of one ICE death every 6.0 days,” writes @austinkocher.com: austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-report...

Data Center Tech Lobbyists Fearmonger in Attempt to Retroactively Roll Back Right to Repair Law Cisco, IBM, and major lobbying groups are trying to exempt "critical infrastructure" from an existing Colorado law.

"if a laptop manufacturer knows the Pentagon buys their laptops, they can declare that line exempt. If a networking company sells a $20 switch to a federal building, they can claim that hardware is critical infrastructure. It’s a blank check for manufacturers to exempt themselves"

Unionized ProPublica staff are on strike over AI, layoffs, and wages A key issue is protections against layoffs from AI

New: 150 unionized ProPublica workers are on strike TODAY over AI, layoff protections, wages, and more.

They're asking readers to not visit ProPublica or engage with content on other platforms. It's the first work stoppage of its kind at the newsroom.

www.theverge.com/news/908401/...

Microsoft Abruptly Terminates VeraCrypt Account, Halting Windows Updates Updates to VeraCrypt, a popular and long-running piece of encryption, are now thrown into doubt because of a seemingly unexplained Microsoft decision.

NEW: Microsoft has terminated an account associated with VeraCrypt, a popular and long-running piece of encryption software, throwing future Windows updates of the tool into doubt, VeraCrypt’s developer told 404 Media.

“I didn't receive any emails from Microsoft nor any prior warnings."

An immigration attorney got the text messages from two USCIS asylum adjudicators who are also married. This is wild. (From Banias Law on Twitter.)

Data Center Tech Lobbyists Fearmonger in Attempt to Retroactively Roll Back Right to Repair Law Cisco, IBM, and major lobbying groups are trying to exempt "critical infrastructure" from an existing Colorado law.

Cisco, IBM, and major lobbying groups are trying to exempt "critical infrastructure" from an existing Colorado law.

Data Center Tech Lobbyists Fearmonger in Attempt to Retroactively Roll Back Right to Repair Law Cisco, IBM, and major lobbying groups are trying to exempt "critical infrastructure" from an existing Colorado law.

Cisco, IBM, and the data center lobby is trying to kill an *already existing* right to repair law in Colorado by massively fearmongering lawmakers into exempting their tech under the guise of "security" of "critical infrastructure"

www.404media.co/data-center-...

Dear Robin Sparkman and ProPublica board of directors: Our world needs more investigative journalism in the public interest. Continuing ProPublica’s mission will require a strong, fair collective bargaining agreement that uplifts journalistic integrity. And that means ProPublica needs to have contractual language prohibiting any potential for artificial intelligence to replace journalists and other workers who make ProPublica the important publication it is today. As the rare union leader with a background in journalism and computer programming, I fully support the need to leverage technology to improve our ability to tell stories. And there are many recent examples of how AI can be helpful in reporting, when used ethically. For example, ProPublica journalists published the “Deleting DEI” story, which chronicled how nonprofit organizations have removed language connected to diversity, equity and inclusion. Reporters used AI to help find DEI related scrubs from nonprofit statements. In “Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies,” reporters used AI to help categorize job types into groups. And then reporters manually checked them all. ProPublica journalists, represented by the Guild, have shown how AI can be used ethically, and they deserve newsroom leadership who agrees with its ethical use. Unfortunately, your leadership team is refusing common sense provisions at the bargaining table that would protect both jobs as well as the integrity of the journalism they produce. And now, 92% of ProPublica’s workers have voted to walk off the job in part due to the company’s stance on AI, in addition to its position on job security, layoff protections and wages. ProPublica management should follow the example set by nonprofit news organizations such as Grist, the Associated Press and others. For example, CalMatters has agreed to: • protect jobs from being eliminated because of AI • protect the salaries of employees from being reduced because of AI

• listen to workers’ input when evaluating the use of AI and get the consent of employees before handing off material to a third-party company for training AI systems • a strong editorial integrity clause, ensuring that AI is clearly labeled and is not published unless several requirements are met • obtain the consent of employees before impersonating someone using AI CalMatters agreed to these protections more than a year ago. Why would ProPublica management refuse similar protections? Time is quickly running out for your leadership team to make a decision that will determine whether the public can trust ProPublica on this important issue. I sincerely hope you decide to stand with the journalists and other workers who make ProPublica the investigative powerhouse that it has become. Jon Schleuss he/him President The NewsGuild - Communications Workers of America (TNG-CWA) cc: Paul Sagan Claire Bernard Tomiko Brown-Nagin Mark Colodny Steve Daetz Angela Filo Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Anu Khosla Jonathan Klein Carrie Lozano Claire Hoffman Katie McGrath Bobby Monks James M. Stone Charles Whitaker Paul Steiger

1/ Management at @propublica.org is refusing to agree to fair contract language around artificial intelligence usage, so @newsguild.org President Jon Schleuss wrote to them today to urge them to get on the right side of history.
www.propublicaguild.org/updates/news...

NCAE calling on NC teachers to take off work to protest in Raleigh. Here’s when This would be the first mass march organized by NCAE since May 2018 and May 2019, when many schools closed for the day.

NCAE calling on North Carolina teachers to take off work to protest in Raleigh. Here’s when. NCAE wants teacher and public education supporters to rally on May 1. NCAE says it would do students more harm to not protest than to miss class. www.newsobserver.com/news/politic... #ncpol #nced

UM Chinese researcher dies after alleged questioning by feds China is calling on the U.S. to probe death of researcher after he was subjected to what they called 'hostile questioning' by federal authorities.

www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l...

The IRS Wants Smarter Audits. Palantir Could Help Decide Who Gets Flagged Documents show the tax agency is testing a Palantir tool to surface “highest-value” audit and investigation targets from a maze of legacy systems.

Documents show the tax agency is testing a Palantir tool to surface “highest-value” audit and investigation targets from a maze of legacy systems.

ICE Presence Persists in Chicago as Raids Shift to Quieter Tactics Advocates say ICE arrests continue daily across Chicagoland, even as tactics grow more targeted and less visible.

Advocates say ICE arrests continue daily across Chicagoland, even as tactics grow more targeted and less visible.

Journalist Sues FAA Over Drone No Fly Zone Designed to Prevent Filming ICE A Minnesota journalist is challenging a 3,000 foot restriction on flying near DHS assets on First Amendment grounds.

Minnesota photojournalist Rob Levine is suing the FAA over a a drone no fly zone which is designed to stop people filming ICE.
www.404media.co/journalist-s...

President's FY27 budget request drops around $700 million from CISA

This California Billionaire Wants to Tax AI Tokens to Create a Sovereign Wealth Fund

Billionaire Tom Steyer wants to tax AI companies and create a sovereign wealth fund for California.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because the CEO of Anthropic proposed the same idea.

I went to Steyer’s town hall in San Diego to hear about it.

Photo of a bombed-out facility

US-Israeli bombing destroys the Pasteur Institute

“Established in 1920, the institute is the first and oldest public health center in Iran—where staffers pioneered vaccine development and research on the prevention of infectious diseases.”

www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/w...

CBP Facility Codes Sure Seem to Have Leaked Via Online Flashcards The Quizlet flashcards, which WIRED found through basic Google searches, seem to include sensitive information about gate security at Customs and Border Protection locations.

The Quizlet flashcards, which WIRED found through basic Google searches, seem to include sensitive information about gate security at Customs and Border Protection locations. www.wired.com/story/cbp-fa...

Fake Claude Code source downloads actually delivered malware : Source code with a side of Vidar stealer and GhostSocks

Tens of thousands of people eagerly downloaded the leaked Claude Code source code this week, and hundreds - if not more - of those downloads came with a side of credential-stealing malware.

Hegseth ousts Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George One of the sources said Hegseth wants someone in the role who will implement President Trump and Hegseth's vision for the Army.

Pete Hegseth has reportedly asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement