BA Porter
@baporter.bsky.social
Old fashioned civil libertarian yelling into the ether. Master of the double-post.
The BA stands for Bad Attitude.
The BA stands for Bad Attitude.
It is really shocking how many old guard editors still just flat-out refuse to allow that this is their job or responsibility. They hide behind "Is this technically true? Could I defend this in a literal sense?" and not "Will this lead to a better informed public?"
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
News media has to do better with headlines that present false and unverified public health claims.
November 30, 2025 at 4:01 AM
It is really shocking how many old guard editors still just flat-out refuse to allow that this is their job or responsibility. They hide behind "Is this technically true? Could I defend this in a literal sense?" and not "Will this lead to a better informed public?"
Reposted by BA Porter
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
News media has to do better with headlines that present false and unverified public health claims.
November 30, 2025 at 1:10 AM
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
Reposted by BA Porter
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Bookselling is like the most "people go to the store and buy what looks cool to them without a particular agenda" type business left, and your purchases have a huge influence on what is ordered, what is displayed, and what is recommended.
November 29, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Reposted by BA Porter
Look forward to Bari Weiss asking "has identity politics gone too far?" while studiously ignoring the most virulent identity politics driving American government
A reminder for those who are not aware: "remigration" is the process of deporting all non-white people from a country. It includes citizens and is, by definition, ethnic cleansing.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
November 28, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Look forward to Bari Weiss asking "has identity politics gone too far?" while studiously ignoring the most virulent identity politics driving American government
One thing that often bothers me when shootings happen is when people make the assumption that some extra level of background check would have stopped it, when in most cases that's transparently not true and the person passed, or would have passed, whatever check you're talking about anyway.
November 28, 2025 at 8:16 PM
One thing that often bothers me when shootings happen is when people make the assumption that some extra level of background check would have stopped it, when in most cases that's transparently not true and the person passed, or would have passed, whatever check you're talking about anyway.
Reposted by BA Porter
The media treated Biden's pardon of Hunter for trumped-up gun possession charges as more scandalous - far more scandalous - than Trump's pardon of war criminal serial killer Eddie Gallagher. And here we are:
Exclusive: Hegseth ordered everyone killed in the first alleged drug boat strike on Sept. 2, prompting a second hit to finish off survivors in the water in a mission led by SEAL Team 6. Ordering no quarter could legally perilous www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:38 PM
The media treated Biden's pardon of Hunter for trumped-up gun possession charges as more scandalous - far more scandalous - than Trump's pardon of war criminal serial killer Eddie Gallagher. And here we are:
Reposted by BA Porter
Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Can’t believe the whole country has to suffer through the return of Dickensian childhood diseases because the worst, most ignorant attention-demanders decided other people’s expertise makes them feel bad
Your periodic reminder that there was a moment in time when America waited with bated breath to see if the case against Donald Trump would finally be handed down, but Robert Mueller thought it would be untoward to say which crimes he committed since that wouldn't have been fair to Trump.
November 20, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Your periodic reminder that there was a moment in time when America waited with bated breath to see if the case against Donald Trump would finally be handed down, but Robert Mueller thought it would be untoward to say which crimes he committed since that wouldn't have been fair to Trump.
Reposted by BA Porter
Just a reminder that one of the January 6ers Trump pardoned was arrested last month for threatening to murder Jeffries. Another was sentenced to life this year for plotting to murder the officials who prosecuted him.
Important: House Dem leaders just said Trump's call for execution of Dems has prompted them to contact US Capitol Police and House Sergeant at Arms to "ensure the safety of these members and their families."
Treat Trump like an unhinged menace. He's weak and in deep political trouble. Don't let up.
Treat Trump like an unhinged menace. He's weak and in deep political trouble. Don't let up.
November 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Just a reminder that one of the January 6ers Trump pardoned was arrested last month for threatening to murder Jeffries. Another was sentenced to life this year for plotting to murder the officials who prosecuted him.
Reposted by BA Porter
I'm still thinking about the "quiet, piggy" comment like many other people. How does any man in 2025 get away with such a thing without having his face immediately caved in by a fury of fists?
November 19, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I'm still thinking about the "quiet, piggy" comment like many other people. How does any man in 2025 get away with such a thing without having his face immediately caved in by a fury of fists?
Reposted by BA Porter
I’ve been thinking and it’s kind of exceptional that not a single person said “Hey now” after the piggy comment.
November 19, 2025 at 1:36 AM
I’ve been thinking and it’s kind of exceptional that not a single person said “Hey now” after the piggy comment.
Reposted by BA Porter
Time was if you talked to a woman like that in public a man would tell you what’s what.
November 18, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Time was if you talked to a woman like that in public a man would tell you what’s what.
Reposted by BA Porter
Just the president of the United States rationalizing that a Washington Post reporter was basically asking to be murdered and cut to pieces with a bone saw because of his reporting.
As he sits next to the thug who ordered it.
As he sits next to the thug who ordered it.
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Just the president of the United States rationalizing that a Washington Post reporter was basically asking to be murdered and cut to pieces with a bone saw because of his reporting.
As he sits next to the thug who ordered it.
As he sits next to the thug who ordered it.
Reposted by BA Porter
I think the President of the US responding to a question about the murder of a journalist with "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman" is probably pretty bad.
November 18, 2025 at 9:49 PM
I think the President of the US responding to a question about the murder of a journalist with "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman" is probably pretty bad.
These people are all fucking looney tunes.
oh my god you have to read this until the end www.telos.news/p/part-1-how...
Part 1: How I Found Out
Olivia had just returned from a reporting trip—at least that’s what she told me it was—and her Herschel backpack, the one with the flap that never quite closed properly, was tossed beside our bed, its...
www.telos.news
November 18, 2025 at 4:26 AM
These people are all fucking looney tunes.
Reposted by BA Porter
this would have been a month-long scandal in 2011
President Trump walking past the flag at the Whitehouse which has fallen to the ground
November 18, 2025 at 12:38 AM
this would have been a month-long scandal in 2011
The Olivia Nuzzi thing has always reminded me a lot of the Bloomberg journalist who fell in love with Martin Shkreli, or the many cases where a seemingly put-together woman blows up her whole life to pursue some convict they've been writing to.
www.elle.com/life-love/a3...
www.elle.com/life-love/a3...
The Journalist and the Pharma Bro
Why did Christie Smythe upend her life and stability for Martin Shkreli, one of the least-liked men in the world?
www.elle.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:39 PM
The Olivia Nuzzi thing has always reminded me a lot of the Bloomberg journalist who fell in love with Martin Shkreli, or the many cases where a seemingly put-together woman blows up her whole life to pursue some convict they've been writing to.
www.elle.com/life-love/a3...
www.elle.com/life-love/a3...
Reposted by BA Porter
every epstein email is some creep complaining about MeToo and then being like “oh before i forget, any advice on how to use my position of authority to force women into sleeping with me?”
November 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
every epstein email is some creep complaining about MeToo and then being like “oh before i forget, any advice on how to use my position of authority to force women into sleeping with me?”
Not for nothing, and totally besides the point, but lets not miss "stopping Transgender for Everyone" being an explicit policy goal. Just for all those people who told themselves over and over again that that was not what they were voting for or in favor of.
Fucking suckers.
Fucking suckers.
November 17, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Not for nothing, and totally besides the point, but lets not miss "stopping Transgender for Everyone" being an explicit policy goal. Just for all those people who told themselves over and over again that that was not what they were voting for or in favor of.
Fucking suckers.
Fucking suckers.
Reposted by BA Porter
Antisemitism is a lot like Qanon child abuse conspiracies in that there’s this real and bad phenomenon and, parallel to that, what can only be described as a large scale mass psychosis about a mostly fictional version of the same phenomenon
November 16, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Antisemitism is a lot like Qanon child abuse conspiracies in that there’s this real and bad phenomenon and, parallel to that, what can only be described as a large scale mass psychosis about a mostly fictional version of the same phenomenon
Reposted by BA Porter
Remember the recent middle-of-the-night apartment building raid where children were dragged outside naked & zip-tied in the street while black & Latino residents were _sorted by race_ and piled into separate vans while their apartments were ransacked & robbed? That raid? So it resulted in 0 arrests.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign and be criminally charged, according to critics who seized on a report revealing that zero people who were arrested in a high-profile raid were charged with a crime.
'Noem should resign over this': Fury over alleged DHS 'child kidnapping and trafficking'
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should resign and be criminally charged, according to critics who seized on a report revealing that zero people who were arrested in a high-profile raid were charged with a crime.ProPublica recently reported on the DHS raid on an apartment building that was al...
bit.ly
November 16, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Remember the recent middle-of-the-night apartment building raid where children were dragged outside naked & zip-tied in the street while black & Latino residents were _sorted by race_ and piled into separate vans while their apartments were ransacked & robbed? That raid? So it resulted in 0 arrests.
Reposted by BA Porter
A lot of education discourse is at root an inability to decide whether the purpose of our education system is to 1) teach material and measure learning 2) reward students who work hard 3) separate the smart kids (destined for smart guy jobs) from the dumb kids (destined to serve the smart guys)
November 15, 2025 at 5:52 PM
A lot of education discourse is at root an inability to decide whether the purpose of our education system is to 1) teach material and measure learning 2) reward students who work hard 3) separate the smart kids (destined for smart guy jobs) from the dumb kids (destined to serve the smart guys)
Reposted by BA Porter
It’s wild that you can just openly bribe the President of the United States with chunks of gold to get
whatever you want, it’s fine, you don’t have to hide it, just say “I am bribing the President with gold,” zero consequences.
whatever you want, it’s fine, you don’t have to hide it, just say “I am bribing the President with gold,” zero consequences.
"It was tough to beat Apple, but the Swiss did it." said one administration official.
How the Swiss convinced Trump to drop tariffs with gifts of a Rolex desk clock and a 1 kg gold bar.
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How the Swiss convinced Trump to drop tariffs with gifts of a Rolex desk clock and a 1 kg gold bar.
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab
How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.
www.axios.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:17 PM
It’s wild that you can just openly bribe the President of the United States with chunks of gold to get
whatever you want, it’s fine, you don’t have to hide it, just say “I am bribing the President with gold,” zero consequences.
whatever you want, it’s fine, you don’t have to hide it, just say “I am bribing the President with gold,” zero consequences.
Reposted by BA Porter
Here an underage girl testifies that Epstein vaginally and anally raped her before beating her in fury because Trump had taken her virginity before he could.
November 15, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Here an underage girl testifies that Epstein vaginally and anally raped her before beating her in fury because Trump had taken her virginity before he could.
There is nothing MTG can say that I would find remotely interesting. She's just a lunatic narcissist. Whatever "ideology" or "stand" she's on about at any given moment is always only in service of her inventing whatever reality centers herself as the Main Character. No meaning beyond that.
November 15, 2025 at 9:50 PM
There is nothing MTG can say that I would find remotely interesting. She's just a lunatic narcissist. Whatever "ideology" or "stand" she's on about at any given moment is always only in service of her inventing whatever reality centers herself as the Main Character. No meaning beyond that.