U.S. Court of Appeals delivered one of the strongest First Amendment rulings for undercover journalism in years.

Good news!

"On August 21, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 in Democracy Partners v. O'Keefe, overturning a $130,000 jury damages award against conservative activist James O'Keefe and undercover reporter Allison Maass.

Case Background

The Sting:

In 2016, Project Veritas reporter Allison Maass spent eight days as an unpaid intern at the consulting firm Democracy Partners. She secretly recorded conversations with Democratic strategist Robert Creamer and others.

The Lawsuit:

Democracy Partners sued O'Keefe and Maass for fraud, wiretapping, and breach of fiduciary duty, winning a $130,000 judgment in a lower court.

Key Rulings by the Court

First Amendment Protection:

The majority opinion written by Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson concluded that the damages award violated the First Amendment. It improperly punished the defendants for publishing a news story rather than penalizing separate actionable conduct.

Fiduciary Duty Reversal:

The court ruled that Maass did not become a fiduciary to her news target simply by tricking him into an unpaid internship.Wiretapping Claims: The appeals panel also set aside the lower court's findings regarding wiretapping violations tied to the undercover operation. ..." (Google Search)

Caveat I am not familiar with this case.

Democracy Partners, LLC v. O'Keefe, 25-7080 (D.C. Cir. 2026)

The Pulitzer Prizes 2025: Wall Street Journal winning for chronicling Elon Musk

Everything you did not know about Elon Musk!

"Staff of The Wall Street Journal

For chronicling political and personal shifts of the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, including his turn to conservative politics, his use of legal and illegal drugs and his private conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin."

The Pulitzer Prizes

Credits: Techcrunch newsletter

Ukrainian Famine Hero Who Was Killed for Reporting the Truth: Gareth Jones

Recommendable! Investigative journalism at its best! A profile in courage!

The Russo-Ukrainian war has a terrible precedent: Holodomor! (I blogged about it a few times, please click on the label below)

"... In the early 1930s, Jones undertook two fact-finding missions to Stalin’s Soviet Union. He published articles in major Western newspapers about his observations. Before a third visit in March 1933, he picked up credible information that conditions in Ukraine were horrific. He resolved to find out for himself and scheduled a third mission for March 1933.

Travel to Ukraine was forbidden, but that didn’t prevent Jones from eluding Soviet authorities and making his way there anyway. What he saw and heard horrified him. Back in Berlin, he reported to the world:

I walked along through villages and twelve collective farms. Everywhere was the cry, “There is no bread. We are dying.”

Jones had walked into one of Soviet communism’s most heinous crimes: the Holodomor of 1932-33. Known also as the Terror-Famine and the Ukrainian Genocide, it was an intentional, man-made, planned-from-the-top catastrophe that claimed the lives of between four and ten million people. It was engineered by Joseph Stalin to crush Ukrainian resistance to forced collectivization of agriculture. ..."

Ukrainian Famine Hero Who Was Killed for Reporting the Truth: Gareth Jones - El American

Bari Weiss, crusader against antisemitism, takes leading role in Elon Musk's push to limit Twitter moderation

Recommendable! A brief portrait of one of the two journalists chosen so far by Elon Musk to release and comment on Twitter files.

Bari Weiss, crusader against antisemitism, takes leading role in Elon Musk's push to limit Twitter moderation - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Putin’s army of shadow diplomats (honorary consuls) in over 45 countries

Yesterday, I blogged here about the Dragnet of the Communist Party of China (more than one hundred police stations in over 53 countries). Today, I discovered this article. 

Sometimes, you have to congratulate investigative journalism! Bravo!

Western countries are way too naive and cavalier about what Putin the Terrible and the Communist Party of China does!

"... In a newly published story, ICIJ and ProPublica uncovered how under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has become an enthusiastic supporter of honorary consuls, building a faithful network of the volunteer diplomats to serve the Kremlin’s political agenda around the world.

Though Russia does not release lists of its honorary consuls, the Shadow Diplomats team identified consuls appointed by Russia who have served in at least 45 countries — encompassing a who’s who list of power brokers and oligarchs.

Some of them have supported Putin’s most contentious military and political campaigns, including the February invasion of Ukraine. Others have been part of a strategy to move public opinion in the Kremlin’s favor and, over time, weaken pro-Western governments, particularly in European countries vulnerable to influence. ..."

Putin’s army of shadow diplomats; a corporate transparency rollback in Europe; allegedly looted artifacts seized from Manhattan home and more

PBS: Pandora Papers

Recommendable!

What the video does not cover at all is where the huge cache of leaked documents came from!

Putin the Terrible has a mistress, who became filthy rich with assets of up to $100 million some of them in Monaco! The video also cover other cronies of Putin the Terrible!

King of Jordan secretly holds over $100 million of assets abroad!

South Dakota is a tax heaven? Sioux Falls is the center!