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Reposted by Derek B. Johnson

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 14h

Quite a day.

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ae @aelkus.bsky.social · 15h

scheming viziers running their own FP side operation, that is until Maduro tells grandpa that he can make a Trump Hotel Caracas happen

Phil Klay @philklay.bsky.social · 15h

“The new authority would allow the C.I.A. to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela…The agency would be able to take covert action against Mr. Maduro or his government either unilaterally or in conjunction with a larger military operation.”

Regime change is back.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

Trump Administration Authorizes Covert C.I.A. Action in Venezuela

www.nytimes.com

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Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 1d

This hearing happened six days ago!

Hearing on Government Social Media Censorship

Witnesses including journalists and academics testified at a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on alleged social media government censorship they have encountered, specific...

www.c-span.org

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Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 1d

Fun fact: Congressional Republicans have also held multiple hearings THIS YEAR where their sole focus was characterizing this kind of activity under the Biden admin as wholly un-American censorship. So they're not even rejecting their old premise while this is happening.

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Emissary Of Night | ليلى @diplomatofnight.com · 1d

Sums it all up

Martin Konený
@MartinKonecny
X.com
EU Commission press briefing
yesterday:
Journalist: You've said that Russia should repay for reconstruction of Ukraine. Do you believe Israel should repay for reconstruction of Gaza?
EU chief spox: It's an interesting question, on which I have no

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Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 1d

You can definitely learn valuable things with access, but you'd also be amazed sometimes at how much more you can learn about an org or agency's current operations by talking to one current or well-connected former official on background. Or by talking to the companies they blab to constantly.

Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 1d

I get exactly what he’s saying but to be clear the best nat sec reporters in businesses often don’t have pentagon press passes

NPR @npr.org · 2d

Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says. n.pr/4q87Jwb

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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 1d

I get exactly what he’s saying but to be clear the best nat sec reporters in businesses often don’t have pentagon press passes

NPR @npr.org · 2d

Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says. n.pr/4q87Jwb

Opinion: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon press pass

Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says.

n.pr

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Reposted by Derek B. Johnson

Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 1d

I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?

Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago.
The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.

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Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 1d

This reminded me of something I wrote last month and just realized it was QT in response to one of your posts, lol.

bsky.app/profile/dere...

Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 29d

So one of my lowkey theories is that society is suffering from information overload due to the internet and mass media. We make jokes like "3 months ago feels like 10 years" because in terms of the sheer load we are processing daily, it's just too much to retain what's real, what's important, etc.

Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty @irhottakes.bsky.social · 29d

I know it's not the first time I've said this, but my brain is weirdly susceptible to gaslighting. I know the Trumpers are lying liars who lie and I still pause when they step up to the podium and confidently declare "WELL YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING WHEN OBAMA FUCKED A WALRUS" and think wait, did he?

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Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah agree it's not about money here, but influence and prestige. And the Post is far less influential today than it was when he first bought it and less influential still since he began trying wield it as a blunt instrument for political sway. How much value will it have in 5 more years of this?

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Dave Weigel @daveweigel.bsky.social · 1d

Went to the DC exurbs to write about a growing political trend — citizens who don’t want more data centers, and are looking for politicians who’ll help.

Locally they’re getting help from both parties. At higher level, Rs are resolutely pro-data center and Ds are conflicted. t.co/Ir0QW8FUey

https://www.semafor.com/article/10/13/2025/as-electricity-bills-rise-candidates-in-both-parties-blame-data-centers

t.co

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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 1d

This isn't new, by the way. Trump and his minions wanted an "antifa" Black Bloc to show up and fight with cops on Jan. 6, 2021. If that had happened, he would have then called out the National Guard to a) arrest leftists and b) shut down the Capitol and prevent the election from being certified

Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 1d

one of the reasons they're so mad at "no kings" is that they thought they were going to get a different kind of protest. they *want* the black bloc to be out there fighting with the cops. those are the images they've been trying to generate from "go." instead--

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

MAGA Rage at “No Kings” Boils Over—and It Quickly Backfires on Trump

As Trump allies smear the coming protests, a good writer on MAGA skewers the absurdity of these attacks on large swaths of Americans—and explains why our best recourse will be to turn out in force.

newrepublic.com

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Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 1d

I'm trying to figure out how much harm needs to happen to the Post's reputation to convince Bezos it's no longer valuable to him. Maybe if it got bad enough then he'd sell it to someone else and there'd be a chance of a revival down the line. I'd hate to see the paper die completely, even now.

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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 4d

The autocrat's toadies destroy functioning governance and launch crisis after crisis in order to create a nation that runs on patronage in which he's the only one able to do anything for anyone.

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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 4d

The Nobel *Peace* Prize winner is cool with murdering civilians on boats

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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 4d

Relatedly, I've learned a lot about the situation in Ethiopia from a friend who works on that. Their strongman ruler, PM Ahmed Abiy, is a monster who attacks his own people with drones and jails journalists and opposition leaders

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · Nov 13

if i've learned one thing from doing union stuff while also doing other forms of organizing, it's that you're better off with people you disagree with who are nevertheless trying to do the same thing as you than with people you agree with who aren't trying to do anything

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Cohen is a Ghost @skullmandible.bsky.social · 4d

"even if it's AI, it's at least true" hard to overstate the damage this stuff is doing to people's brains. we're gonna be cleaning the slop out of archives for decades

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Tamara Keel, but spooky @tamslick.bsky.social · 4d

The utter inability of legacy news media to be able to deal with being straight-up lied to is one of the primary drivers of this mess.

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 5d

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 4d

Fake AI videos mocking dead celebrities are going viral. We talked to their families, and they're horrified.

We break down OpenAI's Sora 2 and the moral and legal problems of "synthetic resurrection."

Gift link: wapo.st/4nNKzd3 w/ @tatumhunter.bsky.social

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Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 5d

We did our best!

1.) cyberscoop.com/potential-eu...

2.) cyberscoop.com/germany-oppo...

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James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 5d

When you **understand** your principles, you can **speak clearly** about them.

MIT as an institution has a sharply defined concept of "merit" that this letter uses to turn the tables on the administration's confused and decepive use of the idea.

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 5d

MIT understands its mission and values.

orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Reposted by Derek B. Johnson

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 6d

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

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Ryan Mac 🙃 @rmac.bsky.social · 5d

It's strange seeing a bunch of outlets pub stories about Thiel's antichrist lectures and label them as exclusives. For one, they aren't exclusive if a source offered the same material to half the tech press.

It's also kind of silly for folks just to parrot Thiel when he's saying this:

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Derek B. Johnson @derekbjohnson.bsky.social · 5d

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