Plus, some wins: in court and the Edward R. Murrow Awards.

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** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
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Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022

Hello! In this issue:
* The question that will determine Afghanistan’s future: Do you recognize the Taliban? ([link removed])
* Our context around a police accountability victory in St. Louis and Facebook handing over data to law enforcement in Nebraska.
* A quote to remember on what kind of laws ([link removed]) are “enhancing, reinforcing, encouraging the use of deadly force.”


** THIS WEEK'S PODCAST
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** Afghanistan’s Recognition Problem
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One year ago this month, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and the United States pulled out of the country.

This week on Reveal ([link removed]) , we check back in with Aysha, a teacher from Kabul who we first heard from last August as we followed her through the final months of the U.S.’ withdrawal and the Taliban’s return to power.

She was one of the 120,000 people airlifted out of the country and currently lives in the U.K. Like many other Afghan refugees, she’s frustrated that the Taliban’s leadership has resulted in having to leave her home country behind, but she hasn’t lost hope that there are still good days to come.

“No brutal government has ever been able to continue. Maybe it would take a couple of years, maybe a century, but it will finish one day,” Aysha told us. “And if I was not able to step back to a peaceful Afghanistan, I'll make sure my daughter does.”

You’ll also hear how not one single country in the world recognizes the Taliban as legitimate – and neither do many Afghans. The country’s recognition problem ([link removed]) has affected everything from how Afghans can apply for temporary entry into the U.S. to the assets to which the Afghan central bank has access.
* The Biden administration has claimed to welcome refugees from both Afghanistan and Ukraine via the humanitarian parole program, but the process for those fleeing has been unequal. Government records reveal that only 123 Afghan applicants have been approved, compared with 68,000 Ukrainian applicants.
* Currently, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York sits $7 billion in assets belonging to Afghanistan, frozen by the U.S. since the Taliban took control. The Biden administration is in a complicated position as it considers whether to release the money – and how to do it without aiding the Taliban.

And we’ll get insight from Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, who is trying to bring the Taliban and its critics together to chart a future for the country.
Listen to the episode ([link removed])
🎧 Other places to listen: Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , Google Podcasts ([link removed]) , Stitcher ([link removed]) or wherever you get your podcasts.
🎨 Illustration by Ariana Martinez for Reveal


** RELATED
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🎧 For 20 Years, I Saw No Peace ([link removed])
Taking on powerful interests demands lots of time, a strong backbone and your support. Donate to keep us going ([link removed]) .


** FEATURED STORIES
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** Police Often Miss Red Flags in Domestic Abuse Cases, and the Consequences Are Deadly
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By Jennifer Gollan and Grace Oldham

Reveal looked at scores of domestic violence gun homicides and found that law enforcement repeatedly ignored even the most glaring signs that a victim was at high risk of being killed. Read the full story ([link removed]) .
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** A Voter Fraud Nonprofit With Questionable Finances Has Deep Ties to Ken Paxton
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By Cassandra Jaramillo

The Texas attorney general would be the one to hold True the Vote accountable on allegations that it swindled a $2.5 million donor. But the nonprofit’s founder has been a friend and ally. Read the full story ([link removed]) .


** In the News
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What’s happening in the news — with a Reveal context
Activist Brittany Ferrell and others march through the streets of St. Louis in November 2014 to protest the police shooting death of Michael Brown. Credit: Sebastiano Tomada/Getty Images

🔹 A victory for police accountability in St. Louis. In the eight years since police killed Black teenager Michael Brown, St. Louis has not seen a single substantive victory for police reform, thanks in large part to an influential police union and a larger police apparatus that has stymied accountability. That appears ready to change.

Last week, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones signed ([link removed]) legislation that will create a civilian-led agency to investigate police misconduct. With a team of 10 investigators, the agency will take over internal police investigations that relate to misconduct and use of force.

“The new law promises to be the first substantive victory for police accountability since Michael Brown’s death made St. Louis the epicenter of the most promising civil rights movement since the 1960s,” The Missouri Independent writes ([link removed]) .

Last year, with The Independent and The St. Louis American, we investigated ([link removed]) police reform in St. Louis. Our reporting showed the previous Civilian Oversight Board was ineffective. From 2015 to 2020, St. Louis police officers shot 53 people, killing 27 of them, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. The board hadn’t reviewed any of those cases. And the Police Department had withheld nearly all the complaints it received against officers, leaving the board unable to fulfill its basic function.

Additionally, under the new legislation ([link removed]) , the city’s circuit attorney, Kimberly M. Gardner, will lead use-of-force investigations, which are currently done by the police themselves, and that could now end in criminal charges. Gardner told us previously ([link removed]) that she can rarely close cases against police officers because some of the cases she receives from the Police Department are so incomplete.

“Where is it in our criminal justice system that a defendant commits a crime and all his friends, whether they’re well meaning or not, get to investigate whether they’re going to hold them accountable?” Gardner said.

Three St. Louis police organizations have already sued ([link removed]) to try to block the new legislation from going into effect Sept. 2. We’ll stay on the story as new developments occur.

🎧 For the full backstory, listen to Why Police Reform Fails ([link removed]) on Reveal.

📱 Read our Twitter thread ([link removed]) for more context.

🔹 Facebook gave data to police to prosecute a Nebraska teenager and her mother for abortion. “The state’s case relies on evidence from the teenager’s private Facebook messages, obtained directly from Facebook by court order, which show the mother and daughter allegedly bought medication to induce abortion online, and then disposed of the body of the fetus,” Vice’s Motherboard writes ([link removed]) .
We’d flagged this as a potentially major issue in a joint investigation ([link removed]) with The Markup. We found that Facebook is collecting ultra-sensitive personal data about abortion seekers and enabling anti-abortion organizations to use that data as a tool to target and influence people online. Privacy experts have sounded alarms ([link removed]) about all the ways people’s data trails could be used against them in the states that now criminalize abortion after Roe v. Wade’s overrule by the Supreme Court.


** A Quote to Remember
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“What is important is that not just our study, but now it’s an accumulation of the body of evidence that stand your ground laws endanger public safety. And by enacting these laws, you are enhancing, reinforcing, encouraging the use of deadly force, where it wasn’t needed and increasing the number of people dying by homicide.”

— Michelle Degli Esposti, co-author of a University of Oxford study that estimates ([link removed]) roughly 700 more people die in the United States every year because of stand your ground self-defense laws. That’s more than the total annual homicides in most European countries.
🎧 Listen to the investigation: No Retreat: The Dangers of Stand Your Ground ([link removed])


** Ending on a Good Note
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🏆 Reveal’s ‘Mississippi Goddam’ Wins a 2022 National Edward R. Murrow Award. The investigative serial podcast ([link removed]) received the Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award ([link removed]) in the network radio category.

⚖️ 9th Circuit Rules in Reveal’s Favor in Planet Aid Case. You may remember that in June, we told you our legal team would be defending us in front of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals against the frivolous libel lawsuit ([link removed]) filed by Planet Aid in response to our truthful reporting ([link removed]) about its corrupt practices. On Thursday, in a unanimous decision, the 9th Circuit ruled in our favor.

This case mattered for more than just our newsroom. If the court had ruled in favor of Planet Aid, it would have disturbed the long-standing First Amendment principle set out by the Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan ([link removed]) that requires parties show more to prove libel when discussing matters of public importance.

If we had lost, the 9th Circuit could have disturbed the sacrosanct “breathing space” created by the court necessary for individuals to criticize public figures and officials. Without it, truth and investigative reporting may easily be hindered.
This issue of The Weekly Reveal was written by Kassie Navarro, edited by Andy Donohue and copy edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!

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