IF YOU'VE ALREADY DONATED — or you believe in us but can’t afford to donate — spreading the word is just as vital. We have 16k+ subscribers (25% are paid). There are 500k+ adults in DC.
First, THANK YOU!
Second, please tell your friends! 📣
51st.news/big-plans
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Screenshot of an image that says "Help grow D.C.'s billionaire-free local news" and "worker-led, reader-funded, not for profit" with a tracker at the bottom that says "Support the 51st" and shows the numbers $353,501/$375,000.
Steep hill to climb today: just under $22,000 left to raise on the last day of our campaign to radically increase newsroom staff at @51stNews:
51st.news/big-plans
And it’s Friday the 13th. But I believe our community will come through. Here’s where my faith comes from:
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I'm happy and proud to support @51st.news. In this era in which Bez@s destroyed the Washington Post, and @wamu.org destroyed DCist, we need local DC reporting more than ever!
When Jeff Bezos slashed the Post, more than 1,000 readers like you signed up to be paying members of The 51st.
We're now less than 175 members away (!!) from reaching the goal we need to be able to expand our newsroom. One-time gifts also help!
Can you help us get there?
Rest in power Breonna Taylor. Today, we mourn six years without her, and six years without justice or accountability.
Me: "we're at 68% funding"
Them: "😳 Really?"
🫶🏾
ART
A striking feature of Trump and his team is: they somehow imagine a world in which they are the only actors, only ones with power, and whether it's Tehran or Minneapolis are surprised when it turns out others do. There are many kinds of power and many nations with power.
another shady as hell “he mysteriously had a seizure and ICE disclosed nothing” case today - Huabing Xie of China, who died in California last September, in a for-profit facility that apparently hadn’t been able to fill their medical director position and which no county officials ever inspected
In our latest, Mariame Kaba @prisonculture.bsky.social & Andrea Ritchie @dreanyc123.bsky.social on how to understand the spectacular violence of Trump’s ICE surges as an extension of the violence of everyday policing, and why to abolish ICE we must abolish the police
www.patreon.com/posts/152641...
A poem for Gaza by Michael Rosen.
Simply superb and we all need to "get in the way of the genociders".
NEW: We’re launching a series on affordability in D.C.
Since listening to our community is a key part of how we work, we started by asking readers: Where is your money going?
Here's what you said, via @graciemck.bsky.social:
I have watched 6 hours of a DOGE bro deposition. The whole thing, start to finish. It's a fascinating, and horrifying, look at the people who caused so much damage, didn't really achieve anything at all, while still being so sure they are right. Here's what they said: www.404media.co/i-watched-6-...
Image of a promotional poster for AARP Foundation and DC Public Library's tax help services in 2026. Two people are sitting at a table with a laptop. Locations listed include Anacostia Library, Bellevue/William O. Lockridge Library, Capitol View Library, Francis A. Gregory Library, Georgetown Library, Lamond-Riggs/Lillian J. Huff Library, Shaw/Watha T. Daniel Library, Southwest Library, and Woodridge Library. The poster encourages making an appointment at dclibrary.org/using-the-library/tax-preparation.
Tax season is here and DC Public Library wants to support you throughout that process. Thanks to a partnership with the AARP Foundation, DC and Maryland residents can meet with a trained volunteer to help prepare their income tax return. https://bit.ly/3Hfz2ja
a support bar that's 90% filled in, in red. "Support the 51st and $351,733 of $375,000" are text above it.
We're so close...Help us reach the goal needed to expand our newsroom by the end of the campaign: TOMORROW!
Memberships, one-time donations and spreading the word all help! 51st.news/the-51st-is-...
The least shocking thing ever is learning DOGE used chatGPT to identify which grants were “DEI.” It is critical to understand that LLMs are an authoritarian technology meant to win the millennia-long war on critical thinking and art. They are a right wing wet dream.
Thank you deeply for this. It came just at the right time.
CJEU press release: Member State legislation which does not permit the amendment of the gender data of one of its nationals who has exercised his or her right to freedom of movement is contrary to EU law A Bulgarian national was registered at birth as being male, with a name, personal identification number and identity documents corresponding to that sex. She currently lives in Italy, where she has begun hormone therapy, and now presents herself as a woman. She instituted proceedings before the Bulgarian courts seeking a declaration that she is a female person and to have her civil status data amended on her birth certificate. Despite the medical opinions and legal assessments confirming the gender identity claimed, her request was rejected. According to national legislation, as interpreted by the plenary assembly of civil chambers of the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation, the term ‘sex’ must be understood in its biological sense, excluding any amendment of the particulars relating to sex, name and identification number. The public interest, based on the moral and/or religious values of Bulgarian society, thus prevails over the interests of transgender persons. Hearing the dispute, the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation has doubts as to the compatibility of that legislation with EU law and has referred the matter to the Court of Justice. In its judgment, the Court holds that EU law precludes legislation of a Member State which does not permit the amendment of the gender data in the civil status registers of one of its nationals who has exercised his or her right to move and reside freely in another Member State. The Court emphasises first of all that, while the issue of identity documents falls within the competence of the Member States, they must exercise that competence in compliance with EU law...
Huge trans rights ruling from the EU's top court - if someone moves to another EU country and transitions, their home country can't refuse to amend their registration details to match their lived gender identity
After a series of fatal strikes involving civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress directed the Pentagon to reduce civilian casualties as part of a 2019 law. During the Biden administration, the Defense Department created the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response initiative. The civilian mitigation teams – cut by 90% by Hegseth – work with military commanders on target planning, and making sure that targets are actually military sites. The teams help come up with "no strike" lists, including religious and cultural sites and schools
I knew that the Department of War shot a missile into a school & killed 175 civilians, mostly children.
This is learned today:
Secretary of War Hegseth had cut the teams assigned to prevent such tragedies by 90%.
www.npr.org/2026/03/11/n...
JUST IN: A federal judge has blocked ICE from constructing an immigration detention facility in Hagerstown, MD after the state sued over the lack of a mandated environmental impact review. www.courtlistener.com/docket/72362...
Great thread from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social in the replies here.
CM Lewis George, this is great news! please add alt-text to your images so folks with low/impaired vision can understand what information is in them.
Washington DC. You sold out the first two shows at DAR constitution hall in less than a day. Adding a third show. Join the waitlist here docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Drone strikes in Haiti.
Drone strikes. In Haiti.
By private contractors.
They’re killing Haitians for private profit & the world barely pays attention.
The story of Haiti is the story America likes to tell about itself. Except there, it’s true. And the west has never stopped punishing Haiti for it
📣 Ward 7, this one’s for you!
Join us for the next edition of "Ask A D.C. Native, Live!" on Tuesday, March 24, at The Strand.
Two teams of D.C. Natives will face off answering trivia about D.C. history and culture — focusing on Ward 7!
Tickets are FREE, but you must RSVP ⬇️
ESPN isn't covering the bombing of one the most famous stadiums on earth so.... my latest piece @thenation.com "The Razing of Iran’s Azadi Stadium Is Straight Out of Israel’s Gaza Script" www.thenation.com/article/soci...
A man in a burgundy hoodie looks directly at the camera with a concerned expression, with a woman wearing a blue surgical mask and a black hijab lying in bed beside him under an IV drip in what appears to be a medical setting.
Young girl partially covering her face with her hand, wearing a burgundy sweater, positioned close to a man with a beard and black shirt, both looking at the camera, outdoors with sandy ground and structures in the background.
SAVE MY MOTHER 🙏
my mothercan no longer see with her right eye andurgentlyneeds surgery i have begged forhelp but only a few people responded i am the only provider formy family and my fatheralso suffers from a chronic illness please helpsavemy mother or share my story 🙏😩
chuffed.org/project/help...
Preordered! from Loyalty Bookstores! so that I could get one signed and personalized! and if you preorder from them by 30 March, you can too! loyaltybookstores.com/preordersspa...
HUGE.
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Previous Next Send Actions Translate News: News Story
101) *PENTAGON OFFICIALS MET WITH LAWMAKERS ON IRAN ON TUESDAY: NYT BFW 16:35
102) *NYT CITES 3 PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING ON IRAN BFW 16:33
103) *PENTAGON SAYS IRAN WAR COST MORE THAN $11B IN FIRST WEEK: NYT BFW 16:33
03/11/2026 16:31:40[NYT]
Billion
By Catie Edmondson
(New York Times) -- In a Capitol Hill briefing, officials gave their most
comprehensive assessment of the cost of the first six days of the war, but the
number omitted several aspects of the operation.
Pentagon officials told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill on
Tuesday that they estimated the cost of the war against Iran had exceeded
$11.3 billion in the first six days alone, according to three people familiar with
the briefing.
The estimate did not include many of the costs associated with the operation,
such as the buildup of military hardware and personnel ahead of the first
strikes. For that reason, lawmakers expect the number to grow considerably as
the Pentagon continues to calculate the costs that accumulated just in the first
week.
Still, it appeared to be the most comprehensive assessment Congress had
received so far amid mounting questions about the objectives, scope and time
frame for the war. The New York Times and The Washington Post reported
earlier that defense officials had said in recent congressional briefings that the
military used up $5.6 billion of munitions in the first two days of the war.
That is a far larger amount and munitions burn rate than had been publicly
disclosed. The Center for Strategic and International Studies had estimated that
the first 100 hours of the operation cost $3.7 billion, or $891.4 million each
day.
The first wave of the bombardment used weapons including the AGM-154 glide
bomb, which can cost from $578,000 to $836,000. The Navy …](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:pnx2fjuannbdpy3337ggthpp/bafkreihcsjdum2q7hdoyqqbb5x6nhtiw3ldqmxfeuf6dutasyn2xyeecni)
<Back> to Return Previous Next Send Actions Translate News: News Story 101) *PENTAGON OFFICIALS MET WITH LAWMAKERS ON IRAN ON TUESDAY: NYT BFW 16:35 102) *NYT CITES 3 PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING ON IRAN BFW 16:33 103) *PENTAGON SAYS IRAN WAR COST MORE THAN $11B IN FIRST WEEK: NYT BFW 16:33 03/11/2026 16:31:40[NYT] Billion By Catie Edmondson (New York Times) -- In a Capitol Hill briefing, officials gave their most comprehensive assessment of the cost of the first six days of the war, but the number omitted several aspects of the operation. Pentagon officials told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that they estimated the cost of the war against Iran had exceeded $11.3 billion in the first six days alone, according to three people familiar with the briefing. The estimate did not include many of the costs associated with the operation, such as the buildup of military hardware and personnel ahead of the first strikes. For that reason, lawmakers expect the number to grow considerably as the Pentagon continues to calculate the costs that accumulated just in the first week. Still, it appeared to be the most comprehensive assessment Congress had received so far amid mounting questions about the objectives, scope and time frame for the war. The New York Times and The Washington Post reported earlier that defense officials had said in recent congressional briefings that the military used up $5.6 billion of munitions in the first two days of the war. That is a far larger amount and munitions burn rate than had been publicly disclosed. The Center for Strategic and International Studies had estimated that the first 100 hours of the operation cost $3.7 billion, or $891.4 million each day. The first wave of the bombardment used weapons including the AGM-154 glide bomb, which can cost from $578,000 to $836,000. The Navy …
$2bn/day, with $2.8bn/day in munitions alone over the first two days. I tend to think of myself as a Large Number Scale Understander but this is just mind-boggling amounts of money.
