@schwellenbach
I'm an investigative journalist at POGO: https://www.pogo.org/about/people/nick-schwellenbach Signal: @schwellenbach.27 Encrypted email: schwellenbach@protonmail.com Substack: https://districtofcorruption.substack.com/
The wonky world of privatized military housing continues to prove endlessly fascinating.
Read the new deep dive investigation into a El Paso-based military housing empire and the Texas families fighting for justice, co-published with @texasobserver.org
www.pogo.org/investigates...
This shocking tale shows how hard Texas military moms - and an attorney/veteran- are fighting to improve family base housing. So far, they’ve been blocked from safety/health protections available to other tenants. A @texasobserver.org @pogo.org collaboration www.texasobserver.org/privatized-m...
Texas military families are fighting to hold Hunt Military Communities accountable, saying it is systematically under-maintaining homes & intentionally misleading families who live in them.
Read @ziembavision.bsky.social's latest, reported in partnership with @texasobserver.org:
Government officials at multiple agencies are raising concerns about Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok from the Pentagon to the General Services Administration to the National Security Agency
A gift link to the full story:
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
SCOOP: Noem's DHS has acquired at least NINE new jets in recent weeks, with another one on the way.
Half are luxury jets.
gillianbrockell.ghost.io/noems-luxury...
The latest collab between POGO Investigates and the Investigative Reporting Workshop:
The data for FY 2025 shows a surge in DHS alleging its agents have been assaulted or impeded.
While many of these cases have collapsed in court, some fear the risks to constitutional rights.
Get the full story:
NEW from @pogo.org: Federal data shows a surge in DHS alleging its agents have been assaulted or impeded. Although many cases have collapsed in court, some say overzealous prosecutions pose risks to constitutional rights
By Will Sytsma & me
www.pogo.org/investigates...
Very well-done story by @wisconsinwatch.org on what happens when ICE’s top contractor, CSI Aviation, takes over a small regional airline
ICE’s #1 contractor is CSI Aviation.
Its CEO and his family contributed $460,000 to President Trump’s 2024 campaign.
In the year since he was inaugurated, the company has seen its revenues rise by 238%.
“Four of the top 10 ICE contractors have seen their ICE revenues more than triple.”
@schwellenbach.bsky.social and his colleagues at @pogo.org are doing great work reporting on ICE’s No. 1 contractor, CSI Aviation.
www.pogo.org/investigates...
Calling all DHS #whistleblowers.... Congress's watchdog arm, the Government Accountability Office, wants to hear from you.
@pogo.org SCOOP:
www.pogo.org/investigates...
THE LATEST FROM POGO INVESTIGATES:
Many of ICE's top contractors saw massive year-over-year increases in the money they are making from the agency in the first full year of President Trump's second term.
"In the first full year of President Donald Trump’s second term, many of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) top contractors saw massive year-over-year increases in the money they are making from the agency"
www.pogo.org/investigates...
The manner in which each of these removals was affected, in addition to being unlawful, involved lies, deception, and coercion," Sabraw wrote.
abcnews.go.com/US/judge-ord...
Ruemmler to Epstein: "trying to isolate/contain wapo"
www.justice.gov/epstein/file...
Key question: Why did Kathryn Ruemmler run her draft response to the Washington Post about Secret Service agents having sex with prostitutes in Colombia by Jeffrey Epstein?
Ruemmler's emails back and force with Jeffrey Epstein were about @carolleonnig.bsky.social's queries. He offered edits to Ruemmler's draft responses. Leonnig broke the story about Secret Service agents and prostitutes in Colombia for the Washington Post.
Jeffrey Epstein and Kathyrn Ruemmler's emails back and forth regarding her draft response to Carol Leonnig's questions about Secret Service agents having sex with prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia
Jeffrey Epstein helped Obama White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler respond to Washington Post questions about Secret Service agents having sex with prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia
(Ruemmler had left the WH just months before)
t.co/bOsXwDHYQs
BREAKING: Pentagon Dep. Sec. Feinberg and the company he co-founded appear in 100s of docs in Epstein files, including personal emails sent by Epstein & whistleblower emails alleging a vast money laundering scheme involving Feinberg’s company.
www.pogo.org/investigates...
NEW FROM POGO’S INVESTIGATIONS DESK:
Hundreds of documents in the newly released Epstein files shed light on Epstein’s connections with a private equity firm formerly led by Dept. of Defense Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg.
Read @ziembavision.bsky.social's latest: https://bit.ly/46sUWMD
Great scoop on Trump’s #2 official at the Pentagon from the #EpsteinFiles by my @pogo.org colleague @ziembavision.bsky.social
www.pogo.org/investigates...
One reason Minneapolis remains in the world's eye is we have one of the most robust & independent media ecosystems remaining in the country. You all need this...and more! @mprnews.org @startribune.com @sahanjournal.bsky.social @minnesotareformer.com @minnpost.bsky.social @racketmn.com etc.
@wyden.senate.gov's record of warning that there is deep and constitutionally-serious dirt being done by the intelligence agencies in secret is unblemished. The vaguer he is, the filthier the dirt is. This is the vaguest I've ever seen him
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is supposed to, among other things, report to Congress if the CIA, for example, is violating our civil liberties.
It is supposed to have 5 members and needs 3 for a quorum.
Right now it has 1 member.
Wyden doing what he can, but we need more light.
Good piece by the author of Original Meanings:
"the idea that this is a time for uncritical celebration has become a historical absurdity. The real observances are occurring in the streets of every community where citizens mobilize spontaneously against the abusive acts of government"
A whole book on this came out last year by UC-Irvine Sociology Professor Irene Vega based on interviews with about 60 Border Patrol agents and 30 ICE agents:
"Bordering on Indifference: Immigration Agents Negotiating Race and Morality"
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Blown away by this investigation
There’s definitely a “Live From New York”-style oral history to be done about Comedy Central. Shows with outsized influence (not just TDS but Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect” started there), cult hits it made mainstream (MST3K), the standup->special->series pipeline that created superstars…
Really nuts how many men were like "Me Too went too far, and I need to email Jeffrey Epstein about it."
NEW: Abigail Spanberger this afternoon ordered that all state agencies leave ICE's 287(g) program.
This means that the state police (and some other agencies) will no longer be empowered to detain and arrest people for ICE.
Big, big move by the governor within weeks of coming into office.