Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Feeling Smart Along the Way
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss cheating in job interviews, "scary good" surveillance tech, and prudes in payment processing.
ICE
Inside a Powerful Database ICE Uses to Identify and Deport People
The database allows filtering according to hundreds of different categories, including visa status, “unique physical characteristics (e.g. scars, marks, tattoos),” “criminal affiliation,” license plate reader data, and more.
News
U.S. Army Says It Could Acquire Targets Faster With ‘Advanced AI’
The Pentagon is working to incorporate AI into everything and it has given investigators a status update.
Podcast
Podcast: The FBI Secretly Ran a Massive Money Laundering Ring
How the FBI secretly ran a money laundering ring to catch hackers; a bunch of news on how the tariffs will impact the world; and the most illuminating book on Facebook in a long while.
iPhone
A 'US-Made iPhone' Is Pure Fantasy
"The army of millions and millions of people screwing in little, little screws to make iPhones, that kind of thing is going to come to America."
News
Another Masterful Gambit: DOGE Moves From Secure, Reliable Tape Archives to Hackable Digital Records
DOGE claimed it saved "$1M per year" by converting 14,000 magnetic tapes to digital storage.
Features
‘Elon Musk’ Was a Prolific Money Launderer for Hackers and Drug Traffickers. It Was Secretly the FBI
In 2023 the FBI quietly arrested a notorious money launderer called ElonmuskWHM. Then the FBI secretly ran his operation for nearly a year to catch (and give money to) more criminals.
Tariffs
Framework Stops Selling Some of Its Laptops in the U.S. Due to Tariffs
The manufacturer says it would now have to sell its laptops at a loss.
News
'Benzinga' News Service That Falsely Reported a Possible 90-Day Break in Tariffs Blames X
The comments falsely attributed to a Trump advisor were repeated by multiple outlets and caused the stock market to briefly jump up.
News
Elon Musk Is Hounded by Haters in Path of Exile 2 Chat
‘YOU WILL ALWAYS FEEL INSECURE IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY,’ filled the screen of the richest man in the world.
News
Wikipedia Editors Call It: It’s the “2025 Stock Market Crash”
While the title of the article can still change, for the moment Wikipedia editors have decided that Trump crashed the stock market.
'Careless People' Is the Book About Facebook I've Wanted for a Decade
I've reported on Facebook for years and have always wondered: Does Facebook care what it is doing to society? Careless People makes clear it does not.
The Abstract
This Device Translates Thoughts into Real-Time Speech
A novel brain device allowed a woman who had suffered a stroke to speak full sentences for the first time since 2005.
