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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · 7d

Appreciation post for Ervin, working a double shift keeping 3 Times Square safe

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · 9d

Federal drug prosecutions have dropped to their lowest level in decades as Trump focuses the FBI, DEA and ATF on immigration cases. Reuters used AI to parse 2 million dockets dating back to 1997. The numbers: www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Sep 5

Exclusive: Bill Pulte accused Fed Governor Lisa Cook of fraud. His relatives filed housing claims similar to hers - www.reuters.com/world/us/bil...

www.reuters.com

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Sep 3

Chaser www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Florida plans to end all state vaccine mandates, including for children to attend schools

Florida's surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, announced plans on Wednesday to end all state vaccine mandates, including for children to attend schools, likening the mandates to "slavery."

www.reuters.com

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Sep 3

Shot www.reuters.com/business/hea...

California, Oregon and Washington form health alliance amid federal vaccine tensions

U.S. states of California, Oregon and Washington said on Wednesday they have launched a new health alliance to provide unified vaccine recommendations amid growing tensions over federal immunization policies and public health directives.

www.reuters.com

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Aug 29

Meta has appropriated the names and likenesses of celebrities – including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez – to create dozens of flirty social-media chatbots without their permission. www.reuters.com/business/met...

Exclusive: Meta created flirty chatbots of Taylor Swift, other celebrities without permission

Meta has appropriated the names and likenesses of celebrities – including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez – to create dozens of flirty social-media chatbots without their permission, Reuters has found.

www.reuters.com

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Aug 29

De minimus comes for LEGO bricks!

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · Aug 29

Trump take LEGO

www.404media.co/lego-stops-s...

LEGO Stops Shipping Individual Bricks to United States After Trump's Tariffs

www.404media.co

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Aug 27

Masri had chosen to look after the live feed at Nasser Hospital in part because he believed it was the safest place he could operate from, said his colleague Mohammed Salem, who spoke to him each morning as he set up his camera.

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Aug 27

Hussam al-Masri, the Reuters journalist killed by Israeli fire on Monday while operating a live video feed at Gaza's Nasser Hospital, reported on the war's civilian suffering while living in a tent and struggling to find food for his family. www.reuters.com/business/med...

Hussam al-Masri, the Reuters journalist killed by Israeli fire in Gaza

Hussam al-Masri reported on the war's civilian suffering while himself living in a tent and struggling to find food for his family.

www.reuters.com

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Aug 25

Reuters cameraman Masri was operating the live feed when he was killed

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Aug 25

The second strike took place after rescue workers, journalists and other people had rushed to the site of the initial attack. The Reuters live video feed from the hospital, which was operated by Masri, suddenly shut down at the moment of the initial strike
www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Israel hits Gaza hospital, killing at least 15 people, including journalists

Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Gaza on Monday killed at least 15 people, including three journalists, one of whom worked for Reuters, Palestinian health officials said.

www.reuters.com

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Aug 4

Bravo to the caption writer: 'The fact that "Mrs. Meyer" is a Mississippi alligator doesn't bother either of them.' www.reuters.com/pictures/pet...

Pet alligator joins her human family in the pool

Weather permitting, Krystian Kaulis likes to go swimming with his pet Mississippi alligator.

www.reuters.com

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 25

SCOOP: Confused US diplomats in South Africa asked the Trump admin if non-white minorities could apply for refugee status

Trump official: it's intended for whites only

www.reuters.com/world/africa...

Exclusive: US diplomats asked if non-whites qualify for Trump refugee program for South Africans

In early July, the top official at the U.S. embassy in South Africa reached out to Washington asking for clarification on a contentious U.S. policy: could non-whites apply for a refugee program geared toward white South Africans if they met other requirements?

www.reuters.com

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 23

U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, two sources told Reuters.

US-funded contraceptives for poor nations to be burned in France, sources say

U.S.-funded contraceptives worth nearly $10 million are being sent to France from Belgium to be incinerated, after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations, two sources told Reuters.

www.reuters.com

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 18

By my count Rupe is pretty undefeated in media knife fights www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

Trump sues Dow Jones, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch, WSJ reporters for libel, court records show

The issue has caused a rare fracture within Trump's base of support.

www.reuters.com

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 18

His attorney argued his pardon by Trump for Jan. 6 offenses should also cover his child porn case ... apple.news/AUeUmzvjJQsO...

Sacramento County man in Jan. 6 riot pardoned by Trump convicted for child porn — The Sacramento Bee

Kyle Travis Colton of Sacramento County, convicted in Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot and pardoned by President Donald Trump, was found guilty in child porn case.

apple.news

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 17

14 states and the District of Columbia provide coverage for eligible children regardless of immigration status, and seven states and DC do so for adults. www.reuters.com/business/hea...

US health department hands over Medicaid personal data to ICE

The U.S. health department is giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials access to the personal data of 79 million Medicaid enrollees to help them track down immigrants who may not be living legally in the country, it said on Thursday.

www.reuters.com

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 16

More than a quarter of Chinatown/Lower East Side residents receive SNAP benefits - the OBBB will kick many off the roles for citizenship and work requirements documentedny.com/2025/07/16/c...

Chinatown Could Be Hit Hard by Trump’s Cuts to SNAP

With stricter work requirements and tighter eligibility rules for applicants, the changes to SNAP already have communities like Chinatown feeling the bill’s emotional toll.

documentedny.com

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 15

They were “pushing the boundaries of the law,” one official said. “Everyone at IRS felt the same way.”

@williamturton.bsky.social

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE

ProPublica has obtained the blueprint for the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security in order to speed up the agency’s mass deportation efforts.

www.propublica.org

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 15

Great story, Will!

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Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 15

The origin story of the Nazi documents discovered in the basement of Argentina's Supreme Court is probably wrong - www.reuters.com/world/americ...

A Nazi document trove raises questions for Argentina

The Supreme Court official had a secret to share when he called Eliahu Hamra, the rabbi of Argentina's main Jewish community center, one night around the turn of the year.

www.reuters.com

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 14

Perhaps the 3rd or 4rth most amusing thing about this story is apparently the Trump Phone ($47.45, get it?, for unlimited talk, text and data) also includes "telehealth access" .... www.404media.co/trump-mobile...

Trump Mobile Keeps Charging My Credit Card And I Have No Idea Why

I didn’t sign up for the Trump Mobile cellphone plan. I still haven’t received my gold plated Trump phone. But the company just charged my credit card again.

www.404media.co

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 11

A mysterious person who calls himself Dave Lee gave Trump's World Liberty Financial $100 million. Reuters could not determine if Lee's a real person or if his UAE-based venture firm is anything more than a website reuters.com/business/fin...

Insight: Trump's $100 million crypto mystery man

Of all the riddles wrapped in the digital wallets sending funds to President Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial crypto business, a little-known entity last month became the biggest.

reuters.com

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 9

OpenAI is a consumer products company now www.reuters.com/business/med...

Exclusive: OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

OpenAI is close to releasing an AI-powered web browser that will challenge Alphabet's market-dominating Google Chrome, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

www.reuters.com

Michael Learmonth @learmonth.bsky.social · Jul 9

Gov Abbott sits on the committee Trump appointed to figure out how to dissolve FEMA in favor of direct grants to states. So the same people calling on FEMA for help in Texas are going to play a big role in eliminating it

www.npr.org/2025/07/09/n...

Texas is relying on FEMA. State leaders said it should be cut

The governor and top emergency official in Texas are both members of a council advising the Trump administration on options for eliminating the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

www.npr.org

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