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St. John Barned-Smith

@stjbs.bsky.social
7.1K followers 1.1K following 840 posts

Reporting for the SF Chronicle. RPCV: Paraguay. Call me ‘Sinjin.' Signal: stjbs.82

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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 11h
“Years ago, you put a fence up because people were stealing stuff. Now you put the fence up because ICE is stealing workers. “There was even a fence shortage in the summer.” — Ariel Salinas, whose Texas construction company has hit the skids due to a worker shortage www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/u...
nytimes.com
Hispanic Voters on the Texas Border Have Soured on Trump (Gift Article)
In 2024, these voters were an essential part of the winning Republican coalition. Now, many feel abandoned and furious, complicating the party’s chances in November.
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 6h
S.F. sheriff’s deputy accused of bullying employees as mayor of small California town www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
sfchronicle.com
S.F. sheriff’s deputy accused of bullying employees as mayor of small California town
A San Francisco sheriff’s deputy is facing accusations of “engaging in bullying and abusive conduct” toward city employees in the Central Valley town where he serves as mayor.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 12h
Something remarkable is happening: James Talarico is running an expansively pro-immigrant campaign in Texas, a state Trump won by 14 points, speaking in Biblical terms about our duty to "the stranger." And it's resonating. That's seismic. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
In Texas, Something Seismic Is Happening—and It’s All Trump’s Fault
Thanks to the economy and ICE, Trump has lost Texas Latinos. And James Talarico is developing a humane pro-immigrant message that’s resonating—even in this ultra-Trumpy state.
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 9h
NEW: ICE published — then removed — internal mortality reviews detailing medical failures in detainee deaths across U.S. www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
sfchronicle.com
ICE published — then removed — internal reports detailing medical failures in detainee deaths across U.S.
The reports, briefly posted online, examined the deaths of 33 people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody between September 2019 and January 2026.
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 9h
BREAKING: Internal ICE documents show pattern of medical failures before detainee deaths www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
sfchronicle.com
Internal ICE documents show pattern of medical failures before detainee deaths
The reports, briefly posted online, examined the deaths of 33 people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody between September 2019 and January 2026.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The validity of laws like this have been debated for decades. Now, we’re going to finally see whether they withstand federal court challenges.
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 22h
Federal oversight of Oakland police is finally over after 23 years, judge says www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
sfchronicle.com
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Adam @adamshap.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
NYC’s congestion pricing program cut ambulance travel times by over a minute
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A Bay Area nurse tried to relocate her family to Canada. ICE stopped them www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
sfchronicle.com
A Bay Area nurse tried to relocate her family to Canada. ICE stopped them
A nurse treated Bay Area residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trump administration made her disappear.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
MeidasTouch @meidastouch.com · 28/09/2026
NEW: Food banks across America are being overwhelmed by surging demand. Scott MacFarlane went inside to see the crisis firsthand. Here’s what he found:
meidasnews.com
“They don’t understand the scale of the hunger!”- An unfolding crisis at the nation’s food banks
Weeks before the midterm elections, the cost crisis is hammering food pantries in red and blue states
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 28/09/2026
At the height of the ICE raids earlier this year, agents in armored military vehicles rolled through residential neighborhoods. Masked agents patrolled public parks and stationed themselves outside elementary schools; squadrons of ICE agents snatched pedestrians off the streets. 🧵
Federal agents line up in front of community members at the scene where federal agents fatally shot a man while trying to detain him, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., January 24, 2026.

REUTERS/Tim Evans
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The whitest town in the Bay Area proposed affordable housing. Then some neighbors blocked it as segregation www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
sfchronicle.com
The whitest town in the Bay Area proposed affordable housing. Then some neighbors blocked it as segregation
A Bay Area housing project has become a test of a city’s stated goals to build more housing and become more inclusive.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Our country is staring into the abyss, and much of our national press corps lacks the fortitude that this moment demands www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/b...
nytimes.com
TV Networks to Resume Trump Coverage, Even as White House Excludes CNN (Gift Article)
The White House TV pool went dark this past week amid a standoff between CNN and the president. Network leaders, however, believe an indefinite suspension may be untenable.
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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I’ve been reporting on the CDC for years, and have written about many of its troubles over the past year. I was still shocked by the extent of the staff losses and political interference I found when reporting this one. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/h...
nytimes.com
‘Zombified’ C.D.C., Hobbled by Cuts, Struggles to Fulfill Scientific Mission (Gift Article)
The agency has lost its independence and nearly a third of its staff, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and associates have tightened control.
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 26/09/2026
great piece. man social media is a cancer themomoftheyear.substack.com/p/im-the-mom...
themomoftheyear.substack.com
I’m the Mom in That Viral Giants Clip. Let Me Tell You About My Husband.
You saw me carrying our baby and food. There was more happening in our family that night.
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A booming local gift store chain is opening in an S.F. shopping district. It’s tearing the neighborhood apart www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/t...
sfchronicle.com
A booming gift store chain is opening in an S.F. shopping district. It’s tearing the neighborhood apart
A battle over chain stores and their impact on neighborhood character has been playing out for months in one of San Francisco’s most beloved and vibrant retail corridors.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Angry @angrystaffer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, this argument should be chilling. Trying to limit freedom of the press under the guise of national security is what tinpot dictators do. That’s not how a functioning democracy works.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Adam Steinbaugh @adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
BREAKING: An Iowa state court dismisses President Donald Trump’s frivolous lawsuit against veteran pollster J. Ann Selzer (represented by @thefireorg.bsky.social) and the Des Moines Register newspaper, a victory for First Amendment rights. Opinion here: www.fire.org/research-lea...
This case sets a President, a member of Congress, and a former state senator against a pollster and a newspaper, and it arises out of an election. A case of that kind invites the reader to look for a political result. The Court’s role is narrower. It is to sit as an impartial arbiter, to apply the law without passion or prejudice, and to rule without regard to the politics of the day. As such, the only question before the Court is whether the Petition states a claim the law recognizes. At its core, the Plaintiffs’ Petition seeks to stretch both Iowa statutory and common law beyond their current bounds, turning speech that enjoys the highest category of First Amendment protection into a liability. After considering the parties’ arguments, the Court must conclude that the protection is too great and the reach is too far. The case must therefore be dismissed.
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Oh, and the best part is the reason they think they can turn off the traffic hose and point everyone to AI is because they built AI by stealing newspaper stories en masse.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
ANOTHER death in ICE detention which appears likely to be the result of medical neglect. A diabetic who told his family members he wasn't receiving regular insulin shots OR getting diabetic-appropriate meals just died in custody. The U.S. prison-ICE detention-industrial complex kills.
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Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Scoop: The anonymous source behind a POLITICO story that the White House is now using to justify a ban on the outlet was none other than JD Vance himself. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/white-hous...
status.news
The Source Behind The Ban
The anonymous source behind one of the stories the White House cited to justify banning POLITICO was none other than Vice President JD Vance, Status has learned.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
NBC News @nbcnews.com · 22/09/2026
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defends the Trump administration’s decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, that President Trump was not closing outlets or arresting reporters.
nbcnews.to
Marco Rubio defends Trump’s ban on media outlets from White House, arguing police or soldiers are not ‘kicking down the doors’
“They’re just not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House,” the secretary of state said in an interview on “TODAY,” referring to CNN, Politico and MS NOW.
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
‘We’re not locking up reporters’ is an absolutely absurd defense.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Maybe the most important political story of our time. People just want the bullshit to stop.
gizmodo.com
71% of Americans Say They're Completely Exhausted
A CDC report shows that people are not feeling relaxed and restful in the United States.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The US secretly flew an American diplomat out of the UK after he was found with child abuse images during a dawn raid, reportedly without notifying British police beforehand. mol.im/a/16127415
mol.im
US flew diplomat out of UK after he was found with child abuse images
The ex US serviceman, who was working at the American Embassy in Nine Elms, south London, was allegedly taken from his flat in Putney on August 25.
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Ryan Mac 🙃 @rmac.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Child sex abuse material, some created by Grok, continues to spread on X. An incredibly disturbing read. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/t...
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Reposted by St. John Barned-Smith
Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Stop stop stop treating this $5k check thing like it’s real. It’s just…not.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Salt Lake Tribune is a 150+ year-old newspaper that went the nonprofit route several years ago. It now brings in $13MM in revenue vs $12MM in expenses. Enough to support a robust news operation. This is the way for metro news orgs. www.cjr.org/first_person...
That move has been a success. Last year, the Tribune brought in about thirteen million dollars in revenue, a million dollars more than it incurred in expenses.
Its revenue came from several streams: contributions from big foundations and individual donors, advertising in its online and twice-weekly print editions, and subscription fees, though the paywall would be removed shortly after Ileft Utah, in May. Similarweb's ranking system regularly puts the Tribune's traffic among the nation's top two or three nonprofit news organizations, alongside such stalwarts as ProPublica and the Texas Tribune. It's also ambitious, acquiring one newspaper in southeast Utah and starting another in the southwest corner of the state. Recently, management signed its first contract with the new newsroom union, guaranteeing a sixty-thousand-dollar salary floor, at least three weeks of vacation, and generous work-from-home provisions.
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
uhuh
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Fascinating paper that makes the case that part of the cost of living crisis has been caused by the surge in automobile ownership rates among formerly carless households, who used pandemic aid to buy cars so they could come to work amid the transit shutdowns -- www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
ICE hasn’t paid for detainee medical care since October. Advocates call it the ‘death policy’ — my latest, w/ @kolyncheang.bsky.social. Spend some time with it www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
sfchronicle.com
ICE hasn’t paid for detainee medical care since October. Advocates call it the ‘death policy’
ICE owes millions in unpaid bills to hospitals and, in some cases, detainees themselves have been directly billed for care, records show.
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
This show was so good
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We Geek Girls @wegeekgirls.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
‘Batman: The Animated Series’ premiered on this day 34 years ago! (September 5, 1992) 🦇 Created by Bruce Timm & Eric Radomski. Voice cast: Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Loren Lester, Bob Hastings, Robert Costanzo, Richard Moll, Mari Devon, & more. #OnThisDay #BTAS
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Exclusive: Inside the fevered fight to free an East Bay man from ICE detention www.sfchronicle.com/eastbay/arti...
sfchronicle.com
Exclusive: Inside the fevered fight to free an East Bay man from ICE detention
A Berkeley restaurant manager spent a week in ICE custody — in facilities in California and Washington — before a federal judge ruled Friday that his detention was illegal.
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Houston getting an extra 28 days a year with a heat index above 90; same with Travis County. The misery of summer in Texas now extends for a whole extra month — and now nearly half the year. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The chart of the ever-growing heat in Houston
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Today, @kolyncheang.bsky.social and my investigation into ongoing medical neglect of ICE detainees (along with @santiagomejia.bsky.social's poignant photos) led the @sfchronicle.com's print edition. Hope you'll give it a read: www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
New ICE data reveals which California city has become the state’s arrest epicenter www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
sfchronicle.com
New ICE data reveals which California city has become the state’s arrest epicenter
ICE has arrested at least 2,440 people in San Francisco since President Trump’s second term began, according to new data. That was the fourth-highest number of arrests for any city in the state.
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
You could write a lot of words about how the death of shame is a unifying aspect of politics on both sides of the Atlantic these day.
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 03/09/2026
I spend much of my time tracking deaths in ICE detention. This is a careful account of the months that come before that. www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
sfchronicle.com
Client Challenge
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 03/09/2026
@stjbs.bsky.social and Ko Lyn Cheang interviewed 12 people with serious conditions in detention and documented eight cases where independent physicians said the delays could have caused life-threatening harm. One had lived here 52 years and waited months for an oncologist.
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 03/09/2026
ICE's 2025 detention standards require medical care at no cost to the detainee. People are getting bills anyway. One man was pursued by debt collectors over a $634 blood test. Another was handed $17,210 after emergency gallbladder surgery he had while handcuffed.
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 03/09/2026
Six providers were waiting on nearly $5.6 million as of July. Scripps Health in San Diego is owed $3 million. A nonprofit ambulance service in rural Pennsylvania is owed about $197,000, or 13 percent of its annual revenue, and has kept answering the calls.
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 03/09/2026
The cause is administrative. The VA ended its arrangement to process ICE's medical claims from outside specialists last October. ICE called the result an "absolute emergency" in writing and issued an internal directive limiting offsite care and medication.
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Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 03/09/2026
ICE has not paid a medical provider for detainee care since October 3, 2025. Hospitals and ambulance services are owed millions, and detainees are billed for care ICE says must be free. New from @sfchronicle.com: www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...
sfchronicle.com
Client Challenge
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
"ICE Skipped Basic Checks in Rush for Recruits, Whistle-Blower Says: An official who oversaw the vetting of ICE recruits cited an “unprecedented lowering of standards” amid a hiring surge." www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/u...
nytimes.com
ICE Skipped Basic Checks in Rush for Recruits, Whistle-Blower Says
An official who oversaw the vetting of ICE recruits cited an “unprecedented lowering of standards” amid a hiring surge.
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Attention @benmullin.bsky.social @oliverdarcy.bsky.social!
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Steve Merelman @smerelman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/u...
nytimes.com
ICE Skipped Basic Checks in Rush for Recruits, Whistle-Blower Says
An official who oversaw the vetting of ICE recruits cited an “unprecedented lowering of standards” amid a hiring surge.
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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
WHOA variety.com/2026/tv/news...
variety.com
Maria Bartiromo Out at Fox News, Fox Business
Maria Bartiromo Out at Fox News, Fox Business
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
WSJ, with an ice-cold graphic: @wsj.com
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St. John Barned-Smith @stjbs.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
A man sat unresponsive on a Muni bus for four hours. His family says the driver could have saved him www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/m...
sfchronicle.com
A man sat unresponsive on a Muni bus for four hours. His family says the driver could have saved him
A Muni driver repeatedly tried to wake a passenger who appeared to be sleeping. The man was later pronounced dead. Now his family is suing the city of San Francisco.
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