VPark
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vppark.bsky.social
VPark
@vppark.bsky.social
270 followers 1.1K following 1.1K posts
Hill staffer/Schedule C in another life. Navigating/parenting thru education and health care systems for kids with chronic illness. Military brat.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by VPark
frontlinepbs.bsky.social
Detained and deported Venezuelans told reporter Melissa Sanchez their stories of what happened when immigration agents raided their apartment building. Read @propublica.org's investigation, part of a collaboration with FRONTLINE.
What the Trump Administration’s Chicago Immigration Raid Videos Don’t Show | FRONTLINE | PBS | Official Site | Documentary Series
Detained and deported Venezuelans tell their stories of what happened when immigration agents raided their Chicago apartment building.
www.pbs.org
December 11, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by VPark
timcarvell.bsky.social
Now seems like a swell time to point out that Frontline just released this excellent 11-minute mini-documentary about what happened inside CECOT.
Surviving CECOT (full documentary) | Deported to a Maximum-Security Prison | FRONTLINE + ProPublica
YouTube video by FRONTLINE PBS | Official
m.youtube.com
December 21, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by VPark
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
AP: “.. Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.”

@apnews.com
apnews.com/article/dipl...
December 22, 2025 at 1:30 AM
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tamranger.bsky.social
“What more is there to say about the character of this petty, hollow, squalid, overstuffed man? — sometimes the point bears stressing: We are led by the most loathsome human being ever to occupy the White House.”

www.sltrib.com/opinion/comm...
Opinion: Our petty, hollow, squalid ogre in chief
Opinion: We are led by the most loathsome human being ever to occupy the White House.
www.sltrib.com
December 21, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by VPark
propublica.org
NEW: Billions of prescriptions for generic drugs are filled in the U.S. annually.

The FDA reports testing only a few dozen of them every year, and it has largely dismissed warnings about contaminants, irregularities and other issues.

Here’s what we found when we did our own testing:
The FDA Often Doesn’t Test Generic Drugs for Quality Concerns, So ProPublica Did
Billions of prescriptions for generic drugs are filled in the U.S. annually. The FDA tests only a few dozen of them every year, its own records show, and it has largely dismissed warnings about contaminants, irregularities and other issues.
www.propublica.org
December 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by VPark
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Page One:

“.. about a third of their gross income ..”

$XLY
@washingtonpost.com
December 22, 2025 at 11:39 AM
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annabower.bsky.social
Per NY Times’s Michael Grynbaum on X, this is Sharyn Alfonsi’s email to her “60 Minutes” colleagues in full:
News Team, Thank you for the notes and texts. I apologize for not reaching out earlier. I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity. Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now-after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one. We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a "kill switch" for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes "the government must agree to be interviewed," then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state. These men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless. CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that "low point." By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones. We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of "Gold Standard" reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight. Sharyn
December 22, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Reposted by VPark
rosenzweigp.bsky.social
When you lose Josh Blackman

www.mediaite.com/media/news/h...
Heritage Foundation Professor Resigns Over Think Tank’s ‘Untenable’ Position On Anti-Semitism
Professor Josh Blackman resigned from The Heritage Foundation on Friday, citing president Kevin Roberts' "unforced blunder" in refusing to condemn "the rising tide of antisemitism on the right."
www.mediaite.com
December 22, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by VPark
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
ALFONSI: “.. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

@nytimes.com $PSKY
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
December 22, 2025 at 11:55 AM
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metacurity.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...
Good god

“At least six career staffers at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were suspended with pay this summer after organizing a polygraph test that the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, failed.”
Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.
At least six career staff were placed on leave after DHS opened an investigation into whether they misled the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, into taking the test.
www.politico.com
December 22, 2025 at 9:15 AM
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carlquintanilla.bsky.social
December 21, 2025 at 1:36 PM
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teamtalaricohq.bsky.social
James Talarico: Does your bill replacing counselors with untrained religious chaplains require them to have any training/qualifications?

Republican: No

Talarico: I offered an amendment to require school chaplains to respect freedom of religion, and you refused to accept that?

Republican: Correct
December 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by VPark
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
“.. The commutation of Mr. Gentile’s sentence undid years of work by prosecutors in Brooklyn to expose a scheme that defrauded thousands of investors, many of whom were older Americans living on fixed incomes.”

@kenvogel.bsky.social @nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/n...
December 12, 2025 at 6:18 PM
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evacide.bsky.social
The US TikTok sale has been signed. The company will be controlled by a joint venture including Oracle, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz, Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Adding a UAE company really makes it clear that this was never about national security concerns.

www.axios.com/2025/12/18/t...
Scoop: TikTok signs deal for sale of U.S. unit after yearslong saga
The deal would end a yearslong saga to force TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the company's U.S. operation.
www.axios.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Reposted by VPark
craigtimes.bsky.social
#Florida legislators quietly working on a measure to give Big Sugar legal power to go after activists & news outlets and silence critics jasongarcia.substack.com/p/florida-po... via @jasongarcia.bsky.social
Florida politicians may give Big Sugar legal power to go after activists and silence critics
Lawmakers in Tallahassee are quietly working on a measure that would give the sugar industry more ammunition to threaten Everglades advocates, news outlets and others with defamation lawsuits.
jasongarcia.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by VPark
altspaceforce.altgov.info
Silencing a black woman's voice is so on brand for that knuckle dragging knotty-pated dewberry. 🤬
repbeatty.bsky.social Rep. Joyce Beatty @repbeatty.bsky.social · 12d
The White House claims the vote to rename the Kennedy Center was “unanimous.” That is false. I was muted on the call and denied the opportunity to speak or register my opposition. That is not consensus. That is censorship.
December 18, 2025 at 11:40 PM
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joelhs.bsky.social
The new Polish president, endorsed by Trump, has ended the tradition of lighting a Menorah at Poland's presidential palace, a gesture of coming to terms with Jewish history. He said he ended the lighting because "I take my attachment to Christian values ​​seriously." forward.com/opinion/7919...
Why Poland’s president canceled his menorah lighting — and how the West helped make that happen
Karol Nawrocki canceled menorah lighting at the presidential palace, part of a broader failure to combat antisemitism, Holocaust revisionism.
forward.com
December 19, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by VPark
billmccarthy.bsky.social
Two videos have been falsely claimed to show the UK and Pakistan celebrating the Bondi Beach attack.

In fact, the clips show a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Manchester in June and a fireworks display in Karachi after Hamas's attack on Israel.

factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....
December 18, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by VPark
nytimes.com
Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, agreed to merge with a nuclear fusion company in a deal worth $6 billion.
Truth Social Parent to Merge With Nuclear Fusion Firm in $6 Billion Deal
Trump Media & Technology Group, the social media and crypto company in which President Trump holds a large stake, said it would help develop a “utility-scale fusion power plant.”
nyti.ms
December 18, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by VPark
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
NYT: “In a newly obtained recording of a phone call from late 2020, President Trump can be heard pressing the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives to hold a special legislative session to overturn Mr. Trump’s election loss.”

@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/u...
December 18, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by VPark
davelevitan.bsky.social
Lol. Lmao. And so on.
The merged companies plan to create the first "utility-scale fusion power plant" in [highlight] 2026, [/highlight] and aim to build additional plants in the future, according to a news release.
December 18, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by VPark
briankaylor.bsky.social
Hegseth just held his #Christmas Worship Service at the Pentagon. Here's my report featuring remarks by Franklin Graham, who praised a "God of War" & read a Bible passage often used to justify genocide: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/at-pentago...
At Pentagon Christmas Service, Franklin Graham Praises “God of War”
Speaking at a “Christmas Worship Service” at the Pentagon, evangelist Franklin Graham celebrated that God is not just a God of love but also of hate and war.
publicwitness.wordandway.org
December 17, 2025 at 10:55 PM
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emilynussbaum.bsky.social
Virginia Heffernan wrote this shortly after the 2016 election and it still holds true
THIS is what makes my head spin: The president is not a moral figure in any idiom, any land, any culture, any subculture. I'm not talking about the liberal enlightenment that would make him want the country to take care of the poor and sick. I mean he has no Republican values either. He has no honor among thieves, no cosa nostra loyalty, no Southern code against cheating or lying, none of the openness of New York, rectitude of Boston, expressiveness and kindness of California, no evangelical family values, no Protestant work ethic. No Catholic moral seriousness, no sense of contrition or gratitude. No Jewish moral and intellectual precision, sense of history. He doesn't care about the life of the mind OR the life of the senses. He is not mandarin, not committed to inquiry or justice, not hospitable. He is not proper. He is not a bon vivant who loves to eat, drink, laugh. There's nothing he would die for - not American values, obviously, but not the land of Russia or his wife or young son. He has some hollow success creeds from Norman Vincent Peale, but Peale was obsessed with fair-dealing and a Presbyterian pastor; Trump has no fairness or piety. He's not sentimental; no affection for dogs or babies. No love for mothers, "the common man"" veterans. He has no sense of military valor, and is openly a coward about war. He would have sorely lacked the pagan beauty and capacity to fight required in ancient Greece. He doesn't care about his wife or wives; he is a philanderer but he's not a romantic hero with great love for women and sex. He commands loyalty and labor from his children not because he loves them, even; he seems almost to hate them — and if one of them slipped it would be terrifying. He does no philanthropy. He doesn't - in a more secular key - even seem to have a sense of his enlightened self-interest enough to shake Angela Merkel's hand. Doesn't even affect a love for the arts, like most rich New Yorkers. He doesn't live and die by aesthetics and health practices like some fascists; he's very ugly and barely mammalian. Am I missing an obscure moral system to which he so much as nods? Also are there other people, living or dead, like him?
December 16, 2025 at 4:21 AM