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Sep 27, 2020 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
If the @nytimes report on #TrumpsTaxes has left you hungry for more on the president’s taxes and his business, @propublica and @WNYC’s Trump Inc. coverage has some good stuff for you to chew on…(THREAD)
2/ In May, we looked into how Mazar’s, Trump’s accounting firm, helped him appear to the world to be wealthy beyond imagining:
propublica.org/article/meet-t…
3/ Trump Inc. reported earlier this year that Trump Organization used middle men to pay bribes to tax assessors to get breaks on property taxes, former assessors say:
propublica.org/article/trumps…
4/ Only a year after Trump became president, we brought you this story of how his companies had filed lawsuits in multiple states claiming his properties were not as valuable as tax assessors had found, in order to decrease the taxes owed:

propublica.org/article/trump-…
5/ These are just a sampling of some relevant Trump Inc. stories. Check out our entire Trump Inc. section:
propublica.org/series/trump-i…
6/ And be sure to listen to the Trump Inc. podcast from WNYC:
wnycstudios.org/shows/trumpinc
7/ And if you are wondering why the IRS doesn’t do a better job, here’s a story about how the agency tried to go after the ultra-wealthy.

It did not go well.

propublica.org/article/ultraw…
8/ Here’s how Republicans spent years gutting tax auditing and overall enforcement:

propublica.org/article/how-th…
9/ Oh, and the IRS used to investigate and help prosecute tax dodging. Not so much anymore:

propublica.org/article/after-…
10/ For more, check out our entire package of Gutting the IRS stories, detailing how the vital agency has been left defunded and understaffed:

propublica.org/series/gutting…

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More from @propublica

Dec 9
1/ Formaldehyde is a chemical that causes an inescapable cancer risk for everyone in America.

It’s in the air we breathe. And it’s in our homes: our couches, our clothes, even babies’ cribs.

So what can you do to reduce your exposure? THREAD 🧵
2/ First, furniture.

Composite wood is a material that essentially contains a mix of wood fibers glued together. The glues are the issue: They can contain formaldehyde that then gets released into the air over time.
3/ One thing you can do is look at an item’s packaging for a label showing it is compliant with the standards set under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Caveat: Compliance does not mean it’s formaldehyde free; it just means emissions are low enough to meet requirements.
Read 18 tweets
Nov 27
This year, you’ve helped us hold power accountable and produce stories that made an impact, like these: 👇 (1/5)
Texas lawmakers proposed new exceptions to the state’s strict abortion bans after the deaths of two women. (2/5)
propub.li/4eBEI53
In response to a ProPublica investigation, Sen. Richard Blumenthal demanded answers from the gun industry about its “covert program” to collect information on gun owners for political purposes. (3/5)
propub.li/3Z4WIQK
Read 5 tweets
Oct 26
1/ Business lobbyist Virginia Lamp once said anti-immigration attitudes are “based on a type of selfish nationalism.”

Today she's better known as Ginni Thomas: wife of Clarence Thomas, and an "America-first" election denier.

What’s changed — for her and the US? 🧵
2/ For decades, the business community’s role in politics was to fend off threats to immigrant labor.

Sure, it probably wasn’t more complicated than economic self-interest. But business orgs were always *involved.*

In doing so, they moderated the nation’s immigration debate. Side profile of a young Ginni Thomas, then Virginia Lamp, looking intently into the distance. She has curly, short hair, and her hand is placed on her chin in thought.
President George W. Bush speaks to a group of small business owners at the Chamber of Commerce in 2004. Behind him, a banner reads “Strengthening America’s Economy.”
3/ Business groups helped negotiate Reagan’s legalization of the status of undocumented immigrants in 1986. They fought for the creation of several new and expanded visa categories, as well as the Temporary Protected Status program in 1990.

Now things have shifted.
Read 25 tweets
Oct 9
1/ THREAD: After a large solar farm was proposed, it seemed to many in Knox Co., Ohio that an anti-solar machine took over news & politics overnight.

They were right.

Here’s how fossil fuel interests shaped the conversation, and how a hometown paper’s new owners amplified it 👇
2/ @MountVernonNews had been owned by the same family since 1939, but by 2020, it was barely holding on.

The paper was sold to Metric Media, a news network described by media researchers as “pink slime” — named for filler in processed meat. Side-by-side comparison of before and after the Mount Vernon News was sold to Metric Media. On the left, the front page of the paper in April 2014. Arrows and pullouts note that the paper was printed six days a week, that photos were taken by a local photographer, and that reporter’s bylines were visible. On the right, the front page in September 2024. Arrows and pullouts note that the paper is printed once a week, there are no bylines, a story is based on a press release and contains no original reporting, and the one photo on the page has no credit.
3/ Metric has received $1.4M from DonorsTrust, a dark-money group linked to the Koch brothers.

The company is run by Brian Timpone, who has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to conservative causes. His ventures have been accused of plagiarism and using fabricated quotes.
Read 10 tweets
Jun 13
Microsoft has long downplayed its role in the 2020 "SolarWinds" attack -- one of the largest cyberattacks in US history -- but a new ProPublica investigation reveals that the tech giant ignored warnings that could have stemmed the damage... 🧵 Photo of a model of the Microsoft campus at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The buildings are all lit from within by bright white lights, but in the center is a plaza comprised of 4 squares lit up in the colors of Microsoft's green, yellow, blue, red logo. (Photo by Greg Kahn, special to ProPublica)
2/ In 2016, while researching an attack on a major tech company, Microsoft engineer Andrew Harris said he discovered a flaw that left millions of users — including federal employees — exposed to hackers.
propublica.org/article/micros…
3/ The weakness Harris discovered was in MS' Active Directory Federation Services, which allowed users to sign on a single time for nearly everything they needed. The problem was with how the app used a computer language known as SAML to authenticate users as they logged in.

Illustration of a robber in a knit cap, looking through binoculars. Reflected in the lenses are a row of city apartment buildings.  Text reads: "To understand how a SAML attack would unfold, let's imagine a robber who wants to gain access to all of the apartment buildings owned by a landlord."
Illustration of the robber, dressed in black clothing, climbing through an open window.  Text reads: "The robber finds an open window in a single apartment and climbs in, similar to how a hacker could use a phishing email to log on to a single user's account."
Illustration of the robber walking through a doorway into a room with a safe on the floor. On the wall near the doorway is a bulletin board. A key on a large ring is hanging there.  Text reads: "Once inside, the robber roams the halls looking for the landlord’s office, where keys to all the building’s units are kept. Likewise, a hacker moves through an organization’s on-premises servers. Their first target is Microsoft’s equivalent of the landlord’s office, a directory that stores information such as usernames and passwords."
Read 18 tweets
May 6
"Friends of the Court," ProPublica's investigation into Supreme Court justices' beneficial relationships with billionaire donors, has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service!

Here are the highlights from the reporting 🧵👇 Image
2/ The series began with this story by @JustinElliott @js_kaplan & @Amierjeski that revealed how SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas had, for 20+ years, been treated to undisclosed luxury vacations by real estate titan and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow.
propublica.org/article/claren…
3/ Then they revealed that Crow had purchased multiple parcels of real estate from Thomas, including the house where the justice's mother still resides.

Like the free travel, this deal had not been disclosed by Thomas.

propublica.org/article/claren…
Read 14 tweets

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