steven monacelli
@stevanzetti.bsky.social
special investigative correspondent @texasobserver.org • columnist @thebarbedwire.com • contributor @coolzonemedia.bsky.social • publisher @proteanmag.com • send tips via Signal: stevanzetti.12
Read & support my work: https://linktr.ee/Stevanzetti
Read & support my work: https://linktr.ee/Stevanzetti
Pinned
ICE Prosecutor Who Runs Racist X Account Returns to Dallas Immigration Court
James Rodden, who the Observer identified last year as the operator of the account that routinely posted hateful statements, appeared to be back at work Tuesday.
www.texasobserver.org
BREAKING: James Rodden, an ICE prosecutor who the Observer identified last year as the operator of an X account that posted “America is a White nation," “‘Migrants’ are all criminals,” and apparent praise of Adolf Hitler, appeared to be back at work Tuesday.
www.texasobserver.org/ice-prosecut...
www.texasobserver.org/ice-prosecut...
Reposted by steven monacelli
Our MOLLY Award Submissions are now OPEN! Our annual prize for investigative journalism is open to both print and digital outlets, with an annual award of $5000.
Stories can be submitted until March 20. Find out how to enter your work here:
Stories can be submitted until March 20. Find out how to enter your work here:
The Molly Awards Submissions
SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN. The MOLLY Investigative Journalism Prize is an annual award of $5,000, open to national print and digital outlets. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM CST on Friday…
www.texasobserver.org
February 3, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Our MOLLY Award Submissions are now OPEN! Our annual prize for investigative journalism is open to both print and digital outlets, with an annual award of $5000.
Stories can be submitted until March 20. Find out how to enter your work here:
Stories can be submitted until March 20. Find out how to enter your work here:
Surprise! It's both.
February 9, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Surprise! It's both.
It's always a pleasure when I call someone and their greeting is "I can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing that you're calling me"
February 9, 2026 at 10:59 PM
It's always a pleasure when I call someone and their greeting is "I can't tell if it's a good thing or a bad thing that you're calling me"
Are there any Dallas zoning heads that follow me
February 9, 2026 at 10:57 PM
Are there any Dallas zoning heads that follow me
I believe I suggested that one 🫡
February 9, 2026 at 5:16 PM
I believe I suggested that one 🫡
Going to the jazz uncle function, or as we like to call it, the junction
February 9, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Going to the jazz uncle function, or as we like to call it, the junction
How many times can a man be brutally frame mogged before he loses the light of God
February 9, 2026 at 2:41 PM
How many times can a man be brutally frame mogged before he loses the light of God
Thanks to ProPublica for citing my prior @texasobserver.org report in their story about how an "election fraud" researcher who is a convicted bathroom voyeur may be fueling the federal government's investigations
February 9, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Thanks to ProPublica for citing my prior @texasobserver.org report in their story about how an "election fraud" researcher who is a convicted bathroom voyeur may be fueling the federal government's investigations
A post from Texas Governor Greg Abbott today clearly indicates he is factoring the political views of public school students into his narrative justifying a state takeover of a local school district.
February 8, 2026 at 4:51 PM
A post from Texas Governor Greg Abbott today clearly indicates he is factoring the political views of public school students into his narrative justifying a state takeover of a local school district.
I would assume five years of content is enough
February 8, 2026 at 4:37 PM
I would assume five years of content is enough
Hard to say without knowing what's going on under the hood, either way it's absolutely inaccurate
February 8, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Hard to say without knowing what's going on under the hood, either way it's absolutely inaccurate
The article itself is highly critical of Democratic policy proposals, which could be reasonably deemed moderately liberal.
Overall, Biasly ranks the Dallas Express as somewhat liberal, despite the website's CEO having described it as conservative.
Overall, Biasly ranks the Dallas Express as somewhat liberal, despite the website's CEO having described it as conservative.
February 8, 2026 at 4:28 PM
The article itself is highly critical of Democratic policy proposals, which could be reasonably deemed moderately liberal.
Overall, Biasly ranks the Dallas Express as somewhat liberal, despite the website's CEO having described it as conservative.
Overall, Biasly ranks the Dallas Express as somewhat liberal, despite the website's CEO having described it as conservative.
AI tools that claim to be able to detect media bias are incredibly unreliable. Here's a report from Biasly, analyzing an article in the Dallas Express, a website funded by a GOP megadonor that employs a former GOP operative and candidate as its CEO and has routinely boosted GOP candidates...
February 8, 2026 at 4:21 PM
AI tools that claim to be able to detect media bias are incredibly unreliable. Here's a report from Biasly, analyzing an article in the Dallas Express, a website funded by a GOP megadonor that employs a former GOP operative and candidate as its CEO and has routinely boosted GOP candidates...
Reposted by steven monacelli
The Guardian - NSA detected a phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to President Trump. A whistleblower says DNI Tulsi Gabbard blocked sharing of the report and took it to the White House chief of staff. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
NSA detected phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump
Whistleblower says that Tulsi Gabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff
www.theguardian.com
February 7, 2026 at 11:31 PM
The Guardian - NSA detected a phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to President Trump. A whistleblower says DNI Tulsi Gabbard blocked sharing of the report and took it to the White House chief of staff. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...
POV: you order a round of milks at the steakhouse
February 7, 2026 at 11:29 PM
POV: you order a round of milks at the steakhouse
Who was the former president in 2009 and where did he live
February 7, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Who was the former president in 2009 and where did he live
"Limited interactions," as in forming a limited partnership or LLC
(CBS News) - U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said he had "limited interactions" with Jeffrey Epstein, but documents show they were in business together as recently as 2014.
@cbsnews.com
www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-...
@cbsnews.com
www.cbsnews.com/news/howard-...
Lutnick and Epstein were in business together, Epstein files show
Though the commerce secretary has called his interactions with Epstein as "limited," the two were in business together four years after Epstein's 2008 guilty plea.
www.cbsnews.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:44 AM
"Limited interactions," as in forming a limited partnership or LLC
Very strange. My background check tool linked him to the property beginning in July 2002.
February 7, 2026 at 1:24 AM
Very strange. My background check tool linked him to the property beginning in July 2002.
More corroboration: the address on Epstein's 2002 FedEx receipt is linked to a man named Michael A. Lee. A 2006 report from Kenedy County Sheriff’s Department names a Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Lee.
bsky.app/profile/badj...
bsky.app/profile/badj...
February 7, 2026 at 1:23 AM
More corroboration: the address on Epstein's 2002 FedEx receipt is linked to a man named Michael A. Lee. A 2006 report from Kenedy County Sheriff’s Department names a Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Lee.
bsky.app/profile/badj...
bsky.app/profile/badj...
Thread: emails from the Jeffrey Epstein library strongly suggest that Epstein and/or Ghislaine Maxwell were in communication with the Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Secret Service Field Office in 2009, after Epstein was initially convicted in 2008
In an email exchange with Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell wrote that a man named Mike Lee's current position as of 2009 was "Head of dalas" (sic), and clarified she meant Dallas and that it was not a codeword.
Hmm...
Hmm...
February 7, 2026 at 12:24 AM
Thread: emails from the Jeffrey Epstein library strongly suggest that Epstein and/or Ghislaine Maxwell were in communication with the Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Secret Service Field Office in 2009, after Epstein was initially convicted in 2008