NEW: NPR has decided it will no longer participate on Twitter due to inaccurate labelling of our main account.
Twitter doesn't make or break anything we do as an organization, and so there's not much benefit for staying.
Full statement from CEO John Lansing below.
NEW: In February, I reported on a doctor who was writing ivermectin prescriptions for COVID patients using medical licenses in multiple states.
This week, Kathleen Cullen's last valid medical license was inactivated. She is no longer an MD. ๐งต
BREAKING: An intelligence briefing slide obtained by
@NPR
through the Freedom of Information Act proves that President Trump tweeted classified material in 2019.
๐งต
NEW ANALYSIS: We looked carefully at security footage and photos from last week's Russian assault on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant and found evidence that it was far riskier than first reported. Here's what we turned up:
BREAKING: Satellite images and data obtained by
@NPR
show that Russia is draining a massive reservoir in southern Ukraine.
At stake is drinking water for 100,000s of people, agricultural production, and safety at Europe's largest nuclear plant. ๐งต
NEW: This video shows clear damage from heavy weapons on the elevated walkways between the reactor buildings at Zaporizhzhya NPP. This is well inside the plant perimeter.
NEW: I've successfully geolocated the photo released yesterday of the Chinese spy balloon.
It was taken as the balloon floated just south of Bellflower MO on February 3.
Approximate location: 38ยฐ58'07.7"N 91ยฐ20'57.6"W
There is one critical number missing from this tweet: 34-49 million Americans have had flu this season. That means 37,000 deaths is a tiny fraction (0.1%) of infections...
Source:
So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!
The Kakhovka Dam appears to be gone. This is going to have far-reaching consequences for weeks and months to come.
Here are some very early thoughts. (video via Ukrhydroenergo Telegram)๐งต
NEW: Imagery from
@Maxar
shows the word "Children" (ะะตัะธ) in Russian painted on either side of the theatre that was struck in Mariupol today.
Image date: 14 March 2022
@ArmsControlWonk
Thank you for reading to the end, and thanks to twitter for staying up just one more day so I could share this with all of you.
It's truly been an honor.
NEW: Nuclear-test monitors tell
@NPR
the Tonga eruption is โthe biggest thing that weโve ever seen.โ
The data they cite points to a much larger explosion than earlier estimates: possibly of 50 Megatons OR MORE!!
PLEASE READ: Last week, an analysis showed that 234,000 Americans would still be alive today if they had received a COVID vaccine.
This is the tragic story of one of those people.
Her name was Stephanie.
Wowowow...
@Maxar
's latest imagery of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has some STUFF...
First of all, check out the Russian armored vehicles. They're parked like ducks in a row in front of Unit 5, under an elevated walkway used to access the reactors.
Dr. Cullen had been working for the group America's Frontline Doctors--a group that spreads antivaccine misinformation.
In addition, they sell telehealth appointments for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine prescriptions. They charge $90 a call.
BREAKING: Simone Gold, head of the anti-vaccine group Americaโs Frontline Doctors, has temporarily lost her ability to practice medicine while she serves a 60 day federal prison sentence for her role in January 6.
BREAKING: Satellite imagery from
@planetlabs
and shared via
@MIIS
show extent of Damage from Iranian missile strike. Appears to be a precision strike of structures holding equipment.
@NPR
Here's what happened.
On August 29, 2019, an Iranian rocket blew up on the pad. Commercial satellite imagery from
@planet
showed there had been a catastrophic failure.
The next day, the President tweeted out an image that left experts stunned...
That means coronavirus has a higher case fatality rate. Globally, it's currently approximately 3.5% (35x the flu). That's probably a big overestimate, but nevertheless, Coronavirus is potentially more dangerous than flu.
(source: )
And quite aside from the classified docs recently found at Mar-a-Lago, it raises questions as Trump enters the 2024 presidential race.
"The idea that he could again have access to classified information is unnerving," says
@ArmsControlWonk
.
NEW: While NatSec reporters have rightly been looking at the newly leaked U.S. top secret documents, I've become obsessed with what is visible on the desk of the person who leaked them.
While it's largely pointless, here's a roundup of what elite OSDESKERS have found so far...
NEW: I took a look "the Gospel", Israel's AI targeting system.
Broadly speaking I think there's two things I've learned:
โNobody knows for sure whether it works as advertised.
โ Militaries around the world are going to adopt similar tech soon.
For everyone making fun of North Koreaโs space launch, I do feel obligated to remind you that just last month they successfully tested a road-mobile solid fueled icbm, making them only the 3rd nation with that capability.
I know itโs fun to dunk on them like itโs 2013 butโฆ
But as fromer
@NGA_GEOINT
director Cardillo told me, the tweet showed the Iranians and other adversaries (Russia, North Korea, China, etc.) exactly what the U.S. can do.
It has likely helped them to improve their ability to evade US capabilities.
NEW: Here's the latest
@planet
50cm imagery of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant taken this morning (05 July).
I don't see any immediate evidence for unusual objects on the reactor roofs, but others can squint as well and see if they spot anything...
I made a short movie here using
@planet
imagery.
You can see that the road, which runs over the dam, was washed away between 2-3 June. That indicates to me that there were structural issues at the facility before whatever happened today.
Absolutely staggering.
New numbers from
@KFF
estimate that 234,000 deaths since June 2021 could have been prevented through vaccination.
That's about a 1/4 of the roughly 1 million COVID deaths seen in America and 60% of the deaths since vaccines became widely available.
@NPR
@planet
"You see so much detail,"
@ArmsControlWonk
recalled. "At first, I thought it must have been taken by a drone or something."
Just to give you a sense of how much better it is:
โ On the left is a picture of the accident from
@Maxar
.
๐คฏ On the right is the president's image.
We knew about Dr. Cullen's involvement in the group, but she was exposed directly after a conservative activist became hospitalized with COVID. He bragged about bringing his own pills, and her name was (misspelled) on the label.
NEW: When a 75-year-old woman caught COVID-19, she turned to the black market to secure ivermectin.
Doctors say that decision contributed to her death.
This is the story of how alternative COVID treatments actually kill.
And it's not what you think.
Dr. Cullen turned out to have a bit of a history. She had a lapsed medical license in the state of Kansas for failure to pay some premium charges.
In Alabama, her license was revoked for her involvement in a shady telemedicine company.
@NPR
@planet
@ArmsControlWonk
@Maxar
@Marco_Langbroek
@M_R_Thomp
@coastal8049
Former NGA director Robert Cardillo told me that the redacted markings just before the title of the briefing slide are where its classification markings are.
The unredacted phrase "not to be used as a source for derivative classification" also shows it's classified material.
@NPR
@planet
@ArmsControlWonk
@Maxar
@Marco_Langbroek
@M_R_Thomp
@coastal8049
Others later estimated that the resolution of the image was about 10cm.
That was 5x better than what commercial satellites were allowed to do at the time (though now 30 cm imagery is permitted).
The image was almost certainly classified. But there was no way to be ๐ฏ sure...
@zachsdorfman
And in a somewhat amusing twist, Trump appears to have *coughs loudly* borrowed from the title of the classified slide to write the text of his tweet.
There's little doubt he tweeted a photo of this slide.
I don't have
@zachsdorfman
's level of sourcing in the intel community BUT there are hints in both images that support this story.
The reflection in Trump's image (right), and what appears to be a shadow of a person holding a phone, both suggest its a photo of the slide...
NEW: Two studies show that COVID-19 death rates among some hospitalized patients has dropped dramatically since the start of epidemic. COVID remains dangerous, but doctors are improving treatments, and these studies put some numbers on those efforts.
And the head of America's Frontline Doctors, Dr. Simone Gold, still has an active medical license in her home state of California.
Dr. Gold also pleaded guilty in March to illegally entering the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection.
BREAKING: The Chernobyl nuclear site has lost power, according to the state regulator. Key points:
โ The site lost power at 11:22 this morning local.
โ Emergency generators can keep safety systems running for 48 hours.
โ Ongoing combat operations are making repair impossible.
Despite this, as noted by the folks at
@NLFD_org
, Cullen still had active medical licenses in North Carolina, Florida and Louisiana.
The NC and LA licenses were both intended for emergency use only during the COVID pandemic.
Iโm not saying Dr. Kathleen Cullen lost one license for committing fraud as part of a multi-million dollar telemedicine scheme, but I am saying she lost one license over her involvement with a company that was - and appears to be connected to another...
BREAKING: The Ukrainian utility Energoatom reports that the final electrical line to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been cut.
The last operating reactor at the site is now shut down.
โ ๏ธThis is potentially the most serious situation at the plant so far.
HI EVERYBODY! Over the past few days, I've been thinking a lot about this mysterious airstrip in China.
This is the place where
@planet4589
@Marco_Langbroek
@DutchSpace
and others think China's new space plane landed on 6 Sept... (photo 8 Sep via
@planetlabs
).
Let's talk!
Let's talk about doctors behaving badly. Specifically, licensed physicians who promote misinformation about COVID-19.
And let's start with one in particular: Simone Gold. I've spent much of the past few weeks listening to what she has to say...๐งต
@NLFD_org
The Louisiana license became inactivated between the time that the prescription was written and the end of January.
I filed a freedom of information request with the
@LADeptHealth
, but only got a boilerplate response with no explanation for why her license was inactivated.
@NLFD_org
@LADeptHealth
The
@FLBoardofMed
had two active investigations against Cullen at the time I wrote my story, but her license remained active. It even remained active after she failed to renew it at the end of January.
But it is now delinquent.
It is obviously possible that the Russians destroyed the dam in the face of a new Ukrainian offensive.
But given the recent past events at the dam, I think a structural failure coincident to the offensive cannot be ruled out. Not yet anyway.
Cullen (as far as I can tell) never responded. After presumably waiting for a response, the board appears to have inactivated her license in the state.
Important to note: None of this is about her prescribing ivermectin. This is about her previous telehealth practices.
@zachsdorfman
To be clear, Trump probably didn't break any laws when he tweeted out this image.
As Steven Aftergood of
@FAScientists
pointed out at the time, the president has ultimate authority over what's classified.
Some images from Ex Cobra Warrior, where UK, German, Italian and Israeli Air Forces trained together at
@RAFWaddington
.
Around 50 aircraft of various types participated in the exercise. The exercise was controlled by RAF directing staff.
๐ฐ
NPR journalists can remain active on the platform if they choose to. Because of the really great OSINT community here, I will stick around.
But PLEASE! If you good people find somewhere else to hang (you know Minecraft Discord servers or whatever) let me know!
The dam was already under enormous strain and damaged.
Then things got worse. On 2 June, it looks like a road over the dam failed. That could be indicative of a larger structural failure.
@NLFD_org
@LADeptHealth
@FLBoardofMed
That left the
@NCMedBoard
. They sent Cullen a letter on February 3, the day after I spoke to them for my story.
HOWEVER, knowing the speed at which boards move, I will not take credit. This letter could have been in the works for a while.
Watching the cold-launch of this solid-fueled ICBM, I'm struck (as I often am) by how clever and resourceful North Korean scientists and engineers must be.
I doubt a straight history of how they pulled this off will ever be told, but if it could be... it'd be fascinating.
WOW!
@Maxar
catches Russian nuclear subs poke'n their little sub heads (aka. sails) up during the Arctic naval exercise Umka-2021. The one on the left is a Delta-IV. (cc
@KingNeptune767
and
@Capt_Navy
)
If you are going to publish the biggest leak of classified documents in years: PLEASE ๐ CLEAN ๐ OFF ๐ YOUR ๐ DAMN ๐DESK๐
I mean at least do us the courtesy of putting away your nail clippers dude (or duddette, we don't know... But i think we know).
Deaths lag by at least two weeks.
Deaths lag by at least two weeks.
Deaths lag by at least two weeks.
Deaths lag by at least two weeks.
Deaths lag by at least two weeks.
Deaths lag by at least two weeks.
Deaths lag by at least two weeks.
NEW: A satellite image from
@planet
conclusively shows that Russian troops were camped out in one of the most radioactive parts of the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Around midnight local time, Russian forces began a slow and methodical advance on the plant. The column of armored vehicles, led by two tanks, approached the plant from the southeast along the main service road.
Ukrainian forces opened fire and one tank was hit.
It's not clear whether the Russian troops were deliberately trying to strike more sensitive sections of the plant or whether they were returning fire from defenders. But what is clear is that the shooting was not accidental.
"The fire is very concentrated," says
@leone_hadavi
.
And speaking of summer, that's the final consequence to think about:
The Kakhovka reservoir supplied irrigation and drinking water to the region--particularly Russian-held Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
This is going to ruin the crop and leave many cities without water.
Towards the end of the firefight, though, the Russian forces appeared less disciplined. On 5 separate occasions, soldiers could be observed firing RPGs into the main administrative building at the plant.
They did not appear to be under fire. It seemed pretty haphazard.
BREAKING: For the first time ever in a laboratory, researchers have generated more energy from fusion reactions than they used to start the process.
The total gain was around 150%.*
*caveats below ๐งต
Today is the last of three days of layoffs at NPR. Itโs been a really tough week, and as the dust settles, the full impact on NPR's podcasting division (aka. "Programming") is becoming clear.
The cuts run deeper than just what was public yesterday.
(v. short ๐งต)
That's slightly different from the official narrative that firefighters arrived and immediately extinguished the blaze. It seems more likely they came back a few hours later in the morning (Source: Energatom Telegram).
The armor column then pushed its way into the parking lot in front of the plant. As previously reported, there was a great deal of fire towards the plant's training center (on the far right). But we also found several instances of fire directly INTO the nuclear complex.
Put it all together and we were able to find evidence for damage at 7 different points around the reactor complex.
Some of it was reported by Ukrainian regulators, we didn't see directly. But we did see fire in the direction of where the damage was reported.
That building is not as hard as the reactor buildings, and if it had been struck, it could have caused a local radiological incident (in the middle of a fire fight). โThe situation that we saw here could have gone wrong. Much more wrong than it did,โ
@TomBielefeld
told me.
At the moment, the reactors at ZNPP are in cold shutdown. They still require cooling to move residual heat out of their cores, but it's at much lower levels than during normal operation...
There are a few other photos and videos of the aftermath. One, on an elevated walkway Iโve tweeted about before (see below). What I hadnโt realized is immediately NEXT to that walkway is a part of the plant that handles radioactive waste.
NEW: This video shows clear damage from heavy weapons on the elevated walkways between the reactor buildings at Zaporizhzhya NPP. This is well inside the plant perimeter.
Photos of the admin building (where the Russian troops lobbed their RPGs) also show heavy damage. We've been able to verify both the location and that these images came post-assault. (Source: Energatom Telegram)
Bottom line-- This is really bad news for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant.
The plant has already endured:
โshelling
โ numerous blackouts
โ A major exodus of staff
โ Russian military occupation
Now it's going into the summer without its main source of cooling water.
I should also add that this was a serious team effort. Thanks to
@mererizzo
@alykat
and
@tienlle
who provided the visual journalistic chops we needed to pull this off. And to
@leone_hadavi
and
@Cen4infoRes
for checking what we saw and finding some important nuggets!
Finally, as things died down, Ukrainian firefighters arrived, probably from the nearby town of Enerhodar. But despite a raging fire in the training center (which, by the way, is in front of the plantโs main electrical switch yard), Russian forces turned them back.
Russian forces immediately returned fire, and at least one power line was struck. The
@iaeaorg
has now said that 2 of the plantโs 4 transmission lines were damaged in the attack (though we donโt know for sure if this was one of them).
And it's the source of cooling water for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. If water levels fall much lower, the plant's safety will once again be at risk.
The
@iaeaorg
was so concerned it put out a statement on water levels late last week.