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Jodi Vittori

@jodi1994.bsky.social
860 followers 568 following 644 posts

Professor/scholar of nexus of corruption, illicit finance, conflict, and national security. Military Veteran. Views are my own; likes are not endorsements.

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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is why diversity is great, like when a sports fan and a corruption expert collaborate on what might be going on behind a very strange sport-USG public-private partnerships
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Trump has a history of deliberately not repairing his buildings or doing even basic health and safety (like garbage pickup) when he wanted to force tenants out and replace them with new projects that would earn him more money. See Buettner & Craig’s book Lucky Loser.
nytimes.com
Kennedy Center Shelved Repairs Now Cited for Closure, Whistle-Blowers Say
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
And the Park Service makes sense since it’s pre-existing system of public/private partnerships have been repurposed at least once to facilitate payments from companies to Trump inner circle presumably in return for favors: the Freedom250 LLC (which is NOT the same as America250)
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It’s certainly an interesting hypothesis for why the MLB went to Trump & Friends rather than Trump & Friends coming to them. Even with a big war chest, they may feel they need political top cover and favors—perhaps even an Executive Order or two.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Interesting. I follow bribery, not sports, so this is news to me.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It’s striking how sports governing bodies like MLB, NFL, NASCAR act as if Trump&Friends will be in power forever and so give lots of bribes and kissing up while assuming they keep impunity for the damage they do. 💰💰💰
washingtonpost.com
Trump administration considers building baseball park in Grand Teton National Park
Major League Baseball contacted the administration about hosting a game in a national park, with an agency official scouting Grand Teton as a possible location.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
“The fundamental vulnerability is that a bad actor does not need to hack an account or directly prevent someone from publishing. They can weaponize the platform’s own enforcement infrastructure by falsely claiming ownership of material and repeatedly reporting,”
wired.com
Meta’s Copyright System Is Being Weaponized Against Albanian Protesters
After three months of daily anti-government protests—dubbed the Flamingo Revolution—the sudden mass suspension of Instagram accounts has led to fears of brigading against demonstrators.
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Jess Davis @jessmarindavis.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This week, I wrote about how states use criminal organizations for assassinations as a tool for power projection. This is a risky strategy that risks escalation, and the best way to prevent that is through early detection and disruption. Have a read: thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2...
thesoufancenter.org
The Criminal Nexus: States, Organized Crime, and State-Sponsored Assassinations  - The Soufan Center
Iran, Russia, and India have engaged in a dozen assassinations (or attempts) using criminal organizations in the last decade, demonstrating an evolution in state-sponsored political violence. The “old...
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
The 86 pg report repeatedly cites complaints from 2 x law schools in Puerto Rico. No other law schools or complaints mentioned. What’s the backstory and context of this?
washingtonpost.com
Trump administration moves to strip bar association’s power to accredit law schools
President Donald Trump and other Republicans have accused the American Bar Association of liberal bias, promoting DEI and pushing a political agenda in law schools.
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Hey folks, this hasn’t gotten much attention, but remember those proposed OMB rule changes we all commented on recently? There’s a new attempt to sneak them just for NSF. We have three days to comment. Please don’t sleep on this!
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Nicholas Slayton @nslayton.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Lara Korte, who was just fired from Stars & Stripes, has been covering the relocation of personnel from Bahrain for months and did a great piece today on 1,300 Navy family members displaced from Bahrain who are stuck in limbo given the damage to the Bahrain base. www.stripes.com/branches/nav...
stripes.com
Navy families evacuated from Bahrain face ‘uncharted territory’ amid bureaucratic confusion
The evacuation has left families in limbo and forced military officials to improvise solutions for support programs.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 21/08/2026
Yesterday, Aug. 20, was one of the worst days of ICE flights I've seen. -At least 82 ICE flights -At least 15 were removal flights, including Haiti -At least 5 removals were third-country removals (Cameroon, Costa Rica, Liberia, Paraguay, Rwanda) -Plus 1 emergency return for reasons unknown
An ADSBx map showing 35 planes flying all over the Americas and Africa, emanating out of Louisiana and TexasAn ADSBx map showing North and Central America, showing roundup flights to northern cities, about a dozen removal flights to central America and the Caribbean.A closeup of Alexandria, La, showing GlobalX's N966AD taking off and then quickly returning to the airport.
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Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
What connects a lettuce, the storming of the Capitol and Trump’s gutting of anti corruption legislation? A very different Democracy for Sale newsletter this morning - if you like it (or hate it) let me know! democracyforsale.substack.com/p/dont-eat-t...
democracyforsale.substack.com
“Don’t Eat the Lettuce”: Notes from Trump’s US
From tainted salad to a $400m ballroom, I got a preview of democracy hollowing out from within – and a warning Britain can't afford to ignore.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
“We can build public institutions with teeth. We can replace the ‘good chaps’ theory of government with proper regulation of our politics. We can succeed where the US has failed”
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Given law enforcement actions against them, I wonder why they didn’t stay. Did they feel that confident in the impunity they had in Romania? In the US? Was the price Russia wanted in return too high? Would Russia have even let them stay? After all, even Florida had investigated them
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Jess Davis @jessmarindavis.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
"Ms Kearns alleged that the Tates’ trip to Moscow raised concerns that the brothers were either acting under the direction of the Russian state or receiving payment from it, which would have required them to register under FIRS." apple.news/AmuE5iCP7TL-...
apple.news
Tate brothers referred to counter-terror police over Russia trip — The Telegraph
Questions raised over visit after pair share footage of themselves taking part in battlefield-style training
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Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
BREAKING: In unusual 9PM Friday Federal Register filing, Postal Service finalizes regulation to deny delivery of mail-in ballots not matching addresses in database BUT says won't implement 'til court orders are lifted. #SCOTUS still quiet. Doc: public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-17238.pdf
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 16/08/2026
“The demolition of the Corporate Transparency Act is just the latest and most dramatic move to cater to the president’s deep-pocketed buddies and fellow cronies,” @cjcmichel.bsky.social argues.
bit.ly
A Green Light for Crooks
The Treasury has made the American economy a safe space for corruption.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
This sale should invite financial scrutiny. It’s possible that the Lakers are worth 25% more than last year, but globally, sports teams sales are notorious as means of kickbacks and corruption, and the Kushner family has a history…
nytimes.com
Who Is Joshua Kushner, the New Lakers Co-Owner?
The brother of Jared Kushner is an influential venture capitalist with big bets on A.I. and health insurance.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Thanks Zorka! Hi Emily! Bluesky wouldn’t let me DM you so I’ll email you.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
“Like DOGE, NDS is nested under the Executive Office of the President. Though the NDS website says that the group is hiring, there is little infor about the roles and seemingly no way to apply for the jobs from the website. NDS jobs also do not appear on USAJobs, the hiring portal for the fed govt.“
wired.com
The National Design Studio Became a DOGE Landing Pad. Now ‘Big Balls’ Is Recruiting
WIRED spoke with an engineer who was interviewed by Edward “Big Balls” Coristine for a government engineering role at the NDS, the White House agency staffed by other DOGE veterans.
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 10/07/2026
OpenAI and Google are selling their advanced AI models to Chinese tech giants blacklisted by the Pentagon, exposing a gap in Washington’s efforts to slow Beijing’s AI development. Read the full story here: ft.trib.al/rlO7Nho
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Trump Admin seems to have started to use the new powers from SCOTUS Slaughter decision to fire heads of Election Assistance Commission right before midterms
politico.com
Trump ousts members of bipartisan election commission ahead of midterms
The Election Assistance Commission serves as a clearinghouse of election information and distributes grant money to states.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Microsoft could make it easy for military to get the discount by just using “verify me” or similar (which other companies do). It’s as if Microsoft wanted to make the process so impenetrable that military wouldn’t use the discount.
static.klipy.com
Waving American Flag
ALT: Waving American Flag
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Once you have the “person” chatbot, you’ll have to go through the same request for the military discount. After ~15-20 minutes of various email confirmations, etc, you can purchase the cheaper Microsoft365 subscription.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Go to Microsoft and tell the idiotic chatbot that you want the military discount—it will send you to the non-functioning AAFES pages. Tell the chatbot “speak to a person” which should get you to a better chatbot. Then…
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
@microso.com life hack for Office365 military subscription that you shouldn’t need: if you try to google or use Microsoft chatbot to get the 30% discount on Office365, it will send you to an AAFES page that has said “sold out” for years. These are the asinine steps you need to do:
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
1. Since December, CNN and CNBC have promoted Kalshi to viewers extensively, frequently vouching for its accuracy. The existence of a financial relationship between the networks and Kalshi, however, is disclosed to viewers inconsistently. w/@atrupar.com
popular.info
How Kalshi infects the news
After inking financial deals with CNBC and CNN, Kalshi's prediction markets have become ubiquitous on cable news.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
It seems that the Democrats are giving the Trump Admin a huge gift. If Democrats don’t quash this (and actions like it) quickly, they strengthen Republican narratives that Trump/Witkoff/Lutnick family deals aren’t corrupt but just how things are done.
politico.com
Crypto billionaire among dozens to back startup from Gillibrand’s son
Chris Larsen, John Griffin and Mark Ein are angel investors in a new financial exchange led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s 22-year-old son.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 06/07/2026
"Enten & Berman promoted the 43% chance of Trump acquiring Greenland as people 'putting money where their mouth is.' But an analysis of Kalshi’s data shows price increased from 30% to 39% on just $24k worth of 'yes' trades. The market was so thin that, on Jan 4, the 'yes' odds briefly spiked to 60%"
publicnotice.co
How Kalshi infects the news
CNN and CNBC are pushing Kalshi on viewers but not telling them the whole story.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
In 1785, French King Louis XVI presented Founding Father Benjamin Franklin with a snuff box with 408 diamonds. Franklin took corruption concerns seriously and he asked Congress permission to keep it (as req’d under Art of Confederation). How times have changed.
pbs.org
A Belgian diamond group is gifting Trump a lavish ring after that industry won tariff relief
It’s a glitzy window into the role that ostentatious – and almost always gilded — gifts are playing by those seeking to curry favor with the U.S. president.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Source: The Global Anti-Corruption blog globalanticorruptionblog.com/2020/09/14/p...
globalanticorruptionblog.com
President Theodore Roosevelt on the Importance of Fighting Corruption
Last week, I posted some information about a new working paper that I jointly authored with Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar on anticorruption reform in the United States over the 1865-1941 perio…
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The first requisite of successful self-government is unflinching enforcement of the law and the cutting out of corruption.” 8/
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The exposure and punishment of public corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace. The shame lies in toleration, not in correction…. If we fail to do all that in us lies to stamp out corruption we can not escape our share of responsibility for the guilt. 7/
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Government of the people, by the people, for the people will perish from the face of the earth if bribery is tolerated. The givers and takers of bribes stand on an evil pre-eminence of infamy. 6/
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
He is as wicked as the murderer, for the murderer may only take one life against the law, while the corrupt official and the man who corrupts the official alike aim at the assassination of the commonwealth itself. 5/
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
He is worse than the thief, for the thief robs the individual, while the corrupt official plunders an entire city or State. 4/
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
There can be no offense heavier than that of him in whom such a sacred trust has been reposed, who sells it for his own gain and enrichment; and no less heavy is the offense of the bribe giver. 3/
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
From Teddy: “There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law. Under our form of Government all authority is vested in the people and by them delegated to those who represent them in official capacity. 2/
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Not mentioned in this article was that Teddy Roosevelt was an anti-corruption crusader. Trump not so much. 💰💰💰 Consider this quote from Teddy Roosevelt to Congress in 1903 (h/t Harvard Prof Matthew Stephenson) 🧵1/
washingtonpost.com
Trump to honor a president he sees as a peer — Theodore Roosevelt
The president plans to fly to rural North Dakota to open Roosevelt’s library as aides tout comparisons between the two.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
#ZacBrown is singing at UFC fight at White House today, saying he’s doing it for veterans. In Nov2014, I saw him sing at Concert for Valor for veterans. (Wikipedia excerpt below) Feels like Zac Brown in 2026 vs Zac Brown in 2014 is an allegory for what has happened to US & patriotism.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
“Separately, Haney said, the group estimates that more than 100 FBI and DHS agents fanned across the state on Thursday and arrived at the homes of people affiliated with the collaborative. Haney said these agents demanded to talk to the residents. They did not have subpoenas or warrants, he added.”
washingtonpost.com
FBI searches offices of Ohio voter registration group, seizing computers
The raid continues the Trump administration’s pattern of looking for voter fraud, which many experts say is minimal in the U.S.
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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project @occrp.org · 12/06/2026
Russia has been quietly embedding military veterans and former mercenaries aboard its sanctioned oil tankers — not as sailors, but as watchmen tasked with keeping foreign crews in line and ships on course past European authorities.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
“Over the weekend, plane spotters in the Washington area posted on X that they had caught the retrofitted jumbo jet [Qatari 747 bribe] in Trump’s new navy-red-gold colors arriving and departing Joint Base Andrews under the cover of darkness.”
wired.com
Donald Trump Is Ready for Fight Night. So Are Donors
The UFC event on the White House’s South Lawn is the president’s birthday gift to himself. Sources expect it to be a lobbying extravaganza.
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Ryan Scrivens @ryanscrivens.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Out now in Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism & Political Aggression: We examined the influence of violent extremist group membership on online behavior among violent and non-violent right-wing extremists, which is open access: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
That former Rep Buyer had been a US Army JAG (attorney) and Sen Lindsay Graham is a retired Air Force JAG speaks not only about deep ethical issues in Congress, but also potential major ethical concerns in the US military even before SecDef Hegseth’s purges.
nytimes.com
Trump Pardons Former Congressman Convicted of Insider Trading
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 06/06/2026
President Trump has pardoned Stephen Buyer, a former Republican representative from Indiana who was convicted of insider trading in 2023.
nyti.ms
Trump Pardons Former Congressman Convicted of Insider Trading
Stephen Buyer, a former Republican representative from Indiana, was convicted of trading stock related to two deals before they were made public.
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Jodi Vittori @jodi1994.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
“FORMER MEMBERS OF the so-called DOGE have launched a startup to, they say, bring “DOGE for the private sector.” Their holding company, called Special, has backing from billionaire Marc Andreessen’s venture capital firm a16z and several other former DOGE members.”
wired.com
The DOGE Boys Get VC Funding to Support Their Latest Enterprise
Former DOGE members and Elon Musk allies are backing a startup aimed at using AI to apply "learnings” from DOGE to the private sector.
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Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
“Exactly what Rifaat owned was concealed by anonymous shell companies located in places such as the tiny Caribbean island of Curaçao, the British Virgin Islands and Panama” - @edsiddons.bsky.social / @tbij.bsky.social www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...
thebureauinvestigates.com
Rifaat al-Assad: how Europe sheltered an alleged war criminal
How Rifaat al-Assad stashed his stolen millions – and eluded the lawyers trying to take him down
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Politico @politico.com · 05/06/2026
EXCLUSIVE: A top Polymarket executive sent hundreds of thousands of dollars — and likely more — to social media influencers from left to right. One influencer says Polymarket wrote posts for them to share on X and asked them to promote specific bets.
politico.com
‘Unbelievable how accurate’: How paid influencers hype Polymarket’s odds
The company’s chief marketing officer, Matthew Modabber, used a personal PayPal account to send money to content creators, according to records reviewed by POLITICO.
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