Ryan McCarthy

Opinion | Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True. A journey through the front lines of global poverty shows that when the world’s richest men slash aid for the world’s poorest children, the result is sickness, starvation and death.

Read this www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Mahmoud Khalil Has Not Been Allowed to Speak Privately With Lawyers Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident who the Trump administration has claimed is a national security threat, is in immigration detention in Louisiana.

"Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate detained by the Trump administration last weekend, have not been able to hold a private conversation with their client since his arrest." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/n...

At Columbia, Tension Over Gaza Protests Hits Breaking Point Under Trump There were protests, arrests, the departure of the school’s president. Then, a new administration arrived in Washington.

“Nobody can protect you. These are dangerous times.” - Jelani Cobb, the dean of Columbia Journalism School to students.

Tuberculosis Resurgent as Trump Funding Cut Disrupts Treatment Globally The United States was the major funder of tuberculosis programs. Now hundreds of thousands of sick patients can’t find tests or drugs, and risk spreading the disease.

“The whole system of finding, diagnosing and treating tuberculosis — which kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease — has collapsed in dozens of countries across Africa and Asia since President Trump ordered the aid freeze on Jan. 20” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/h...

The Trump administration's moves have surprised some climate advocates in their speed and scale.

John Podesta, a senior climate adviser in the Biden admin: “We followed the law, and they’re breaking the law. It remains to be seen whether they’ll be allowed to get away with it.”

How Trump Has Undermined U.S. Climate Policy President Trump has quickly transformed America’s approach to the environment, withholding funds and stretching the limits of presidential power.

In a matter of just weeks, Trump has begun to cripple American climate policy, in moves that have stretched the limits of presidential power (and limits of the law) and which could have long-lasting implications for the planet.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/c...

Under Trump, Billionaire Climate Champions Have Gone Quiet Since the inauguration, billionaires who funded climate action over the last decade have avoided criticizing Trump’s climate policies.

The billionaires who have become some of the biggest climate action funders have suddenly gone silent since inauguration, as Trump dismantles US climate policy

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/c...

Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze Leaves Millions Without HIV Treatment President Trump’s pause on aid, and the gutting of the primary aid agency, could jeopardize the health of more than 20 million people worldwide, including 500,000 children, experts say.

"Two weeks into President Trump’s sweeping freeze on foreign aid, H.I.V. groups abroad have not received any funding, jeopardizing the health of more than 20 million people, including 500,000 children."

E.P.A. Demotes Career Employees Overseeing Science, Enforcement and More A spokeswoman for the agency said the change was “common practice.” Others said it injects partisanship into jobs that have always been neutral.

"The Environmental Protection Agency plans to demote career employees who oversee scientific research, the enforcement of pollution laws, hazardous waste cleanup and the agency’s human resources department and replace them with political appointees..." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/c...

Over 1,000 EPA Workers on Climate Change and More Could Be Fired ‘Immediately’ A spokeswoman for Lee Zeldin, the new head of the agency, said the goal was to create an “effective and efficient” federal work force.

"At 9:21 a.m. on Monday, E.P.A. employees received another email notifying them of that the agencywide intranet was out of service. Without the internal agency network, employees cannot access documents or other information needed for their jobs." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/c...

Trump’s Halt on Climate Spending Freezes Jobs and Stalls Projects The pause affects billions of dollars and is delaying home repairs, factory construction and other projects, many in states that voted Republican.

“We have one woman in her 80s who lives alone, and if she does not get her roof fixed, well, we’re going to have a senior in her late 80s who is homeless” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/c...

More about the new era of climate disasters

The California Wildfires Are the Latest Disaster Supercharged by Climate Change Extreme weather events — deadly heat waves, floods, fires and hurricanes — are the consequences of a warming planet, scientists say.

How the climate crisis is supercharging disasters like the LA fires.

Read David Gelles and Austyn Gaffney on the new era of massive, unpredictable disasters driven by climate change

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/c...

UnitedHealth Is Strategically Limiting Access to Critical Treatment for Kids With Autism Leaked internal documents show that the insurance giant is culling providers of applied behavior analysis from its network and scrutinizing the medical necessity of therapy. Advocates say the company’...

Read this story www.propublica.org/article/unit...

I was among the 1,000+ people stuck underground on an F train without power in Brooklyn for 2 hours. Had to evacuate near Bergen. People were understandably freaking the hell out.

Chinese journalist and former Harvard fellow sentenced to 7 years Dong Yuyu’s conviction on espionage charges shows how the space for independent thought and open discussion in China has narrowed since Xi Jinping took power in 2012.

“These charges are patently absurd.”

My @niemanfdn colleague, widely respected journalist Yuyu Dong, was sentenced tonight to 7 yrs in prison in China for “espionage.”

Some of the evidence: He spoke with the Japanese ambassador to China.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

Opinion | Note to Democrats: It’s Time to Take Up Your Hammers (Gift Article) There is a straight line from homeless schoolchildren to Donald Trump’s election victory.

“I would prefer to live in a world where the recent news that more than 146,000 New York City schoolchildren experienced homelessness during the last school year was regarded as a crisis demanding immediate changes in public policy”

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/30/o...

If your product can’t even accurately attribute sources, should it really be called “artificial intelligence”?

Media orgs signed these deals knowing full well OpenAI products, like all Gen AI, had serious accuracy and plagiarism problems.

Letting the accuracy of your journalists’ work get tarnished like this seems like malpractice.

And who ensures these systems are accurate? Is that on publishers too?

Inside the Plastic Industry’s Battle to Win Over Hearts and Minds Documents leaked from an industry group show how plastics companies are pushing back against a “tide of anti-plastic sentiment.”

TIL you can be a plastics industry influencer www.nytimes.com/2024/11/27/c...

🚨 MAJOR ALERT 🚨

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Behold! It is the Official Verified Labeller!
bsky.app/profile/veri...

Trump Is Running His Transition Team on Secret Money Breaking with past practice, President-elect Donald J. Trump has not agreed to disclose the donors paying for his planning effort or to limit their contributions.

“Those seeking to curry favor with the incoming administration now have the opportunity to donate directly to the winning candidate without their names or potential conflicts ever entering the public sphere.”

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/24/u...

Some stunning details on Saudi efforts to derail climate talks at COP29:

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/18/c...