Share this story

Trump taps Palantir to compile data on Americans

(NYT) — WASHINGTON — In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power.

ADVERTISING

Trump has not publicly talked about the effort since. But behind the scenes, officials have quietly put technological building blocks into place to enable his plan. In particular, they have turned to one company: Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm.

The Trump administration has expanded Palantir’s work across the federal government in recent months. The company has received more than $113 million in federal government spending since Trump took office, according to public records, including additional funds from existing contracts as well as new contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon. (This does not include a $795 million contract that the Department of Defense awarded the company last week, which has not been spent.)

Representatives of Palantir are also speaking to at least two other agencies — the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service — about buying its technology, according to six government officials and Palantir employees with knowledge of the discussions.

The push has put a key Palantir product called Foundry into at least four federal agencies, including DHS and the Health and Human Services Department. Widely adopting Foundry, which organizes and analyzes data, paves the way for Trump to easily merge information from different agencies, the government officials said.

Creating detailed portraits of Americans based on government data is not just a pipe dream. The Trump administration has already sought access to hundreds of data points on citizens and others through government databases, including their bank account numbers, the amount of their student debt, their medical claims and any disability status.

Trump could potentially use such information to advance his political agenda by policing immigrants and punishing critics, Democratic lawmakers and critics have said. Privacy advocates, student unions and labor rights organizations have filed lawsuits to block data access, questioning whether the government could weaponize people’s personal information.

Alaska man survives 3 hours pinned under boulder

(NYT) — Kell Morris does not remember exactly how he started tumbling or how he ended up on his stomach, but he remembers when a 700-pound boulder hit his back — the jolt of pain it caused as it pinned him down, and how instantly he knew he was in trouble.

Morris, 61, said it was a “beautiful, beautiful day” on May 24 in Seward, Alaska, where he lives with his wife, Joanna Roop. The pair decided to hike near a remote glacier more than 120 miles south of Anchorage.

They had been looking for a spot to cross a creek when the earth holding a group of boulders gave way. Morris said he tried to almost surf the sliding gravel but lost his footing and tumbled down.

“The next thing I know, I’m face down in the creek and you can still hear these rocks,” he said.

Roop, 61, also heard that distinctive sound.

She ran to the area of the slide, calling for her husband but there was no answer.

When she saw him, Roop said, it felt like the situation went from “worse to worse.”

Trapped under the massive boulder, Morris was just about holding himself out of the cold glacier water that feeds the creek.

Rescue crews from several agencies, including the Seward Fire Department and the Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department, mobilized.

But the extreme terrain of the area meant progress was slow. Then, a Bear Creek volunteer who works for Seward Helicopter Tours heard the 911 dispatch call.

The volunteer and a pilot offered to pick up six firefighters and take them to where Morris was pinned.

Rescuers found Morris suffering from hypothermia and wavering in and out of consciousness, face down in a creek with the boulder on his back, and Roop holding his head out of the water, the Seward Fire Department said in a news release.

Rescue crews used air bags, ropes and “brute force” to free him, the department said. After he was warmed up, Morris “became more alert, and his vitals improved,” the department said.

Salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers sickens 45 people

(NYT) — A salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers has sickened at least 45 people across 18 states, health officials said Friday, and they warned that the number of people infected was likely higher.

Companies including Target have issued recalls for products with cucumbers that may be contaminated.

The cases have been reported across the Midwest and East Coast, with nearly a third of them in Georgia and Florida, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said 16 people had been hospitalized. Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever, stomach cramps and dehydration.

Health officials have linked the outbreak to Bedner Growers, a cucumber grower based in Boynton Beach, Florida, that sells to wholesale distributors and directly to consumers. Potentially contaminated cucumbers, distributed between April 29 and May 19, were sold widely to stores and restaurants, the CDC said.