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Nicholas Dawes

@nicdawes.bsky.social
2.4K followers 332 following 955 posts

New York. Trace amounts of past lives at THE CITY, Human Rights Watch, Mail & Guardian, and Hindustan Times may be present. Slight risk of bicycles and mountains.

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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
IDF checkpoints choke daily life in the West Bank, but no map of the barriers exists. A team of reporters from @LHreports, @WIRED, @ARIJNetwork, Evident and Palestine Reporting Lab built one from billions of gps pings, telegram messages, and on the ground research, and tried to count the daily cost.
wired.com
How Israeli Checkpoints Choke Palestinian Life in the Occupied West Bank
Lost time. Lost jobs. Lost friends. Lost family. Lost lives. Our joint investigation reveals the system that has divided the West Bank and measures what it cost people to move through it.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The European Commission is trying to keep the scale and impact of data center construction behind a veil of commercial confidentiality. Stonewalled repeatedly as it investigated, @lighthousereports.com is now suing for the truth, and their legal submission reads a lot like great journalism
lighthousereports.com
Data Centre Silence
How EU leaders sided with Big Tech over the public’s right to know about the true scale and environmental impact of the AI build-out, forcing a legal challenge to seek disclosure
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@ghoshworld @ghoshworld.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"A country that others around the world have encountered as a source of pleasure has a better chance of receiving a sympathetic hearing when it asks for support. K-pop gives [Seoul] an advantage over governments whose principal introduction to foreign publics is a dispute or a threat."
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
J.M. Coetzee and F.M. Siccardi, South African and Argentina, symmetries in the shadow of colonial genocide. Essential work @equatormag.bsky.social
equator.org
Dusklands • EQUATOR
Growing up in the shadow of genocide
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Marco Rubio just announced visa restrictions on South Africans that are broadly drawn enough to affect government officials, judges, politicians and their families, as well as, conceivably, execs at companies that are compliant with Black Economic Empowerment rules - most of corporate South Africa.
state.gov
Announcement of New Visa Restriction Policy Targeting Foreign Nationals Involved in Race-Based Discrimination - United States Department of State
As stated in President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14204, “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” the United States remains gravely concerned about racially motivated crime an...
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Today in attack surfaces youtu.be/kX_-MFbJp_g?...
youtu.be
y̵̨̧̛̯̥̺͉̠͔͍̥̦̘̥͓̓͌̓̓͘ͅu̵̪̻͔̻͂͝c̷̨̧͈̯̘͇̎̐͜͠k̸̹͓̲̪̱̳̣͚̉̿̋̈͂͆̈́̀́̍̉͝ YOUR AI BILLBOARD
YouTube video by Blank Face
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Alastair Coote @alastair.is · 15/09/2026
On Apple’s refusal to consider installable web apps. Very relevant to the news industry: we at NYT can afford dev teams to make mobile apps but a lot of smaller news orgs can’t. And they’d really benefit from things like home screen icons, web push… if only Apple made the install path discoverable.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The withering of the foreign correspondent corps, and the ever more centripetal character of US political discourse, have meant far too little attention to this rapid and comprehensive takeover. If nothing else, may this piece catalyze attention to what is happening between Mar a Lago and Brazil
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Anthropic's latest report is going to prompt an avalanche of coverage about terrifying things attempted by Chinese, Russian, and Iranian actors. There is much much less about misuse in the US and allied nations. Not because it isn't happening, but because of how the hunt is executed and described.
anthropic.com
Countering misuse of AI: September 2026 / Anthropic
Case studies from threat actors disrupted between December 2025 and August 2026 across seven areas of harm, from cyber operations to biological misuse.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
If you think hedge funds are done gutting local journalism, think again.
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Open Society Foundations @open-society.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
In the latest edition of The Ideas Letter, William Shoki of @africasacountry.bsky.social, Brian Kagoro of Open Society, Panashe Chigumadzi, and @nicdawes.bsky.social discuss the dashed hopes of South Africa after apartheid amid stubborn inequality, high unemployment, and rising xenophobia.
theideasletter.org
South Africa Agonistes - The Ideas Letter
Thirty years ago, South Africa was heralded as a harbinger of a just and non-racial order. After decades of a criminal, repellent regime, Nelson Mandela’s ascension to the presidency and…
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
In the new edition of the Ideas Letter, this bleak, powerful William Shoki essay argues that South Africa's anti-immigrant movement represents the end of the post-apartheid era, and the birth of a new mass politics, born of economic exclusion and the the ANC's deal with capital.
theideasletter.org
Post-Post-Apartheid
Anti-immigrant politics in South Africa has been dismissed as being manufactured, conspiratorial, or yet another eruption of the xenophobic violence the country has seen before—but, Shoki argues, thes...
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Feel like this was leaked by someone internal who supports targeting CAIR, as is worried that wildly broad and unconstitutional overreach will torpedo that slightly narrower unconstitutional goal.
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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Imagine if American newspapers survived and made punditry a distributed network of major metro columnists. You would hear about the Republican Party from the state flagship college grad who makes $95k writing for the Kansas City Star or the Arizona Republic about the things Republicans actually do.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Give praise, for now, when you find yourself in a dumb argument about woke 1, the educational profile of the median El-Sayed voter, or the latest neighborhood baron offended by Zohran Mamdani, you can just stop, and hand your interlocutor a copy of this @polgreen.bsky.social masterpiece:
nytimes.com
Opinion | Democrats Have an Identity Politics Problem. Just Not the One You Think. (Gift Article)
Instead of rallying around their candidates, Democrats are falling out among themselves.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Penguin Random House India was set to publish Sonia Gandhi's hugely anticipated memoir until they told her to cut passages critical of Narendra Modi, which she declined, obviously. They've been craven before, but this is a new low. www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/s...
hindustantimes.com
Exclusive: Penguin India sought cuts to Modi, RSS, China portions in Sonia Gandhi's memoir
Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin, is expected to release the memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, worldwide on November 10 | India News
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The machine abides
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Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
good Monday morning
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I don't know if people understand how unusual, and important Stars and Stripes is. It is both an independent outlet covering the military for service members and their families, and a a resource for mainstream outlets, which tend to focus their beat reporters on the NatSec elite, not the troops.
apnews.com
Pentagon dismisses Stars and Stripes leadership after editor, reporter oppose military interference
The editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes says the Pentagon has fired him as well as its publisher and a reporter.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
To understand this last ditch attempt by the defeated Queen of the Brooklyn Machine nysfocus.com/2026/08/20/b...
nysfocus.com
Facing Ouster, Brooklyn Democratic Chair Tries to Rewrite Rules
Brooklyn Democratic Party chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn wants to expand who votes for party leader, and a reform group is threatening to sue.
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Steve Herman @newsguy.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Stars & Stripes publisher announces sudden retirement, telling staff his philosophy of leadership and “understanding of the value and mission" of the newspaper differ in “fundamental ways” from the direction DoD wants to go in. www.stripes.com/theaters/us/...
stripes.com
Stars and Stripes publisher announces retirement
Max D. Lederer Jr., the longtime publisher of Stars and Stripes, announced his retirement, ending a three-decade career at the organization.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
What stage are we at in the data center rebellion? Right about here, apparently. liquiddeath.com/pages/wewant...
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This seems be a good time to reflect on the fact that journalism ethics tend to deal thinly with harm. Some years ago, the entire newsroom at the Mail & Guardian grappled with this question as we worked on a new code together. This is what we came up with. mg.co.za/news/south-afr…
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Ben Phillips @benphillips76.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Commentators are writing about this as a loss for Africa. This is another story about the decline of the US.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
South Africa's top court just ended Shell's bid to start oil and gas exploration along a sensitive coast. If you are experiencing US Supreme Court-related symptoms, reading this kind of jurisprudence, grounded in core constitutional rights and responsive to current context, may exacerbate them.
saflii.org
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Brooklyn's beloved minor league team got rolled up by a private equity behemoth, and just like that, tips disappeared from worker's paychecks. @rosalindadams.bsky.social with a story that's about much more than Coney Island summers.
thecityreporter.nyc
Brooklyn Cyclones Withheld Tips From Concessions Workers, Records Show
Federal and state laws require that all tips go to workers, but for weeks this season, young fast food workers at Maimonides Park were only paid an hourly wage.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
People are talking up the "special committee" that was supposed to guard editorial independence at the Wall Street Journal as a model for an Ellison-owned CNN. Propublica co-founder Dick Tofel looked at its history, and he's not impressed
dicktofel.substack.com
Here’s a Way Not to Protect CNN from the Ellisons
Beware allusions to the Dow Jones Special Committee
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
South African authorities allowed a suspected IS financier into the country, apparently to act as an informant, possibly at the behest of the US. Now, there is credible evidence that when he allegedly "went rogue", they killed him, and the detective who started investigating his death.
bbc.com
Evidence that South African special forces murdered top detective shared with BBC
Frans Mathipa was shot while driving - we got access to the prosecution case against eight accused men.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Legalized sports betting and prediction markets were never going to be able to live together. Letitia James comes for Kalshi and the "you can just do things" model of regulation.
thecityreporter.nyc
New York Sues Prediction Market Firm Kalshi, Alleging ‘Illegal Gambling Operation'
The lawsuit comes amid disputes between the federal government and states over who has jurisdiction to regulate the rapidly growing prediction market industry.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This absolutely tracks my experience as a publisher
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
The Lyme conspiracy to Covid conspiracy pipeline, and the associated political clustering effects, continue to be worthy of more study.
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@ghoshworld @ghoshworld.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
My latest, for @scroll.in Saffron shadows: Hockey India should have adopted the three-colour football kit of 1984 scroll.in/article/1094...
scroll.in
Saffron shadows: Hockey India should have adopted the three-colour football kit of 1984
Dressing the national team in the signature colour of the BJP-RSS cloaks the squads in a shade freighted with politics and sectarianism.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This superbly reported story about the capitulation of Paul Weiss, and its transformation from a litigation powerhouse into an M&A dealmaker, but its real value is as a portrait of the political economy of American institutional collapse.
nytimes.com
How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee (Gift Article)
Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term. Then it surrendered without a fight. This is the inside story of its transform...
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The Atlas is a new newspaper from the makers of @codastory.com and @thecontinent.org. The 3rd issue just landed, and it's full of stories and perspectives you are unlikely to find anywhere else.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
A source familiar said that diplomats from these countries were "mostly relieved, to be honest".
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
As is so often the case, India offers a warning from the future-present
thehindu.com
Protest venue under a web of cameras and facial recognition systems
Delhi Police deploys advanced surveillance at Jantar Mantar protest, raising concerns over privacy and ethical use of facial recognition technology.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Can anyone suggest reading on the felt experience of AI slop writing? Someone has surely explained why repeated encounters with a simulacrum of mind pasted over its absence, and the mise en abyme of newly familiar stylistic and rhetorical tics, produces the specific affective torque that it does?
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I know it's a lot to ask, but if people had read a bit more Amartya Sen, they'd be a bit less surprised by stuff like this
nytimes.com
With 2 Hires, Mamdani Blends Economic Development With Economic Justice (Gift Article)
Anthony E. Shorris, a former deputy mayor and a partner at McKinsey, and Lina Khan, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission, will lead the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The standard narrative on Europe's farmer protests blames the costs of climate policy. This stunning piece of data reporting from @lighthousereports.com and @lemonde.fr looks at the French beef industry and finds a different cause of rural distress: near-monopsony control of slaughterhouses
lemonde.fr
Comment Bigard, qui a avalé Charal et ses concurrents, dicte les règles de l’abattage aux éleveurs bovins
Trajets toujours plus longs, coûts élevés et faible rémunération… « Le Monde » et Lighthouse Reports révèlent qu’une série d’acquisitions effectuées par le groupe Bigard et approuvées par les autorité...
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
You really do have to click through to encounter the full force of Vanceism manifested in a formal instrument of American foreign policy.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Cape Verde defeats Argentina via a 2-3 loss in extra time
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
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Eric Helms @ericphelms.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Incredibly important statement from my colleague Sara Qudah given the recent misinformation directed around CPJ.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
X is serving as key opinion infrastructure for the organizers of anti-immigrant marches in South Africa right now, and big US handles are starting to get in on the action.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
American courts have defined corruption out of legal existence, but perhaps not political salience. Amazing work from the Times.
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
MTA got the South Africa memo this morning
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@ghoshworld @ghoshworld.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
New from me: There is no alternative universe in which Trump’s disastrous war could have gone differently. open.substack.com/pub/bobbygho...
open.substack.com
The Farce of a Humiliation Foretold
There is no alternative universe in which Trump’s disastrous war could have gone differently.
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
appreciate @stephanienolen.bsky.social and @carlzimmer.com ending the article with this important history on ebola drug access
In 2019, during an Ebola outbreak in Congo, a trial funded largely by the U.S. National Institutes of Health tested four monoclonal antibodies treatments. Two of the drugs cut deaths in patients by as much as 50 percent. One of them was developed from the blood of a Congolese Ebola survivor.
And yet, despite the public funding and the local origin of the treatments, there was no guarantee that the promising drugs would be supplied in Congo. Two companies, Regeneron and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, ended up holding the intellectual property. Neither registered either drug in any of the countries where Ebola outbreaks occur.
Instead, the U.S. government bought the entire supply of both drugs for its own national security stockpile.
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Rachel Holliday Smith @rachelholliday.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
NY1 is gonna make me CRY Cheryl Wills in Knicks orange and DEAN MEMINGER — son of a Knick!!!!!! — are on set. LONG LIVE LOCAL NEWS
NY1 set tonight with Knicks win news
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Nicholas Dawes @nicdawes.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
An Indian energy powerhouse was being battered by Donald Trump's tariffs; a Texas refinery startup was struggling. All that changed when the scions of two dynasties danced in Jamnagar. Stunning @propublica.org reporting
propublica.org
An Indian Billionaire Was Targeted by Trump. Then He Poured Money Into a Startup Secretly Backed by Donald Trump Jr.
An obscure Texas firm secretly connected to the president’s son said it received at least $100 million from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. At the same time, the Ambani family secured major polic...
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