Stretch Ledford
@stretchledford.bsky.social
Multimedia Journalism prof, UIUC. Currently collaborating w students & faculty at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone & the University of Birmingham in the UK, investigating grassroots solutions to global issues of women's health. #periodpoverty
Important reporting from @mprnews.org “Decker said they’re now seeing cases where ICE agents violate constitutional protections on a daily basis.”
“She has marks on her neck and wrist from where agents restrained her. Agents cut off her wedding ring and held her in leg shackles at Whipple Federal Building for about five hours.”
Her crime: witnessing ICE, from a distance.
Her crime: witnessing ICE, from a distance.
Federal agents arrest citizen observer watching ICE detain neighbors on her north Minneapolis block
Susan Tincher, a 55-year-old American citizen, appears to be the first observer arrested by federal immigration enforcement officers since the agency launched an immigration surge in the Twin Cities l...
www.mprnews.org
December 10, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Important reporting from @mprnews.org “Decker said they’re now seeing cases where ICE agents violate constitutional protections on a daily basis.”
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Wow -- Russia reportedly plotted last year to plant bombs on US-bound flights (gift link) giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
December 9, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Wow -- Russia reportedly plotted last year to plant bombs on US-bound flights (gift link) giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
That’s a wrap, folks.
December 10, 2025 at 12:05 AM
That’s a wrap, folks.
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Look I’m admittedly no physics whiz but it really feels like the whole “orbital data centers” thing is a grift aimed at investors who remember fourth-grade science (“Space is cold!”) and not tenth-grade science (“How heat dissipates”)
Hard vacuum: famously a great place to dissipate heat
"SpaceX expects to use some of the funds raised in an IPO to develop space-based data centers, including purchasing the chips required to run them"
"In the current secondary offering, SpaceX has set a per-share price of around $420, putting its valuation above the $800 billion previously reported"
"In the current secondary offering, SpaceX has set a per-share price of around $420, putting its valuation above the $800 billion previously reported"
December 9, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Look I’m admittedly no physics whiz but it really feels like the whole “orbital data centers” thing is a grift aimed at investors who remember fourth-grade science (“Space is cold!”) and not tenth-grade science (“How heat dissipates”)
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Trump: We have $18 trillion coming into our country because of tariffs.
My Internal Monologue: [Please please please ask where that $18 trillion comes from]
Reporter: So would you rule out reducing tariffs on any more goods?
My Internal Monologue: [ARRRGHHHH]
My Internal Monologue: [Please please please ask where that $18 trillion comes from]
Reporter: So would you rule out reducing tariffs on any more goods?
My Internal Monologue: [ARRRGHHHH]
December 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Trump: We have $18 trillion coming into our country because of tariffs.
My Internal Monologue: [Please please please ask where that $18 trillion comes from]
Reporter: So would you rule out reducing tariffs on any more goods?
My Internal Monologue: [ARRRGHHHH]
My Internal Monologue: [Please please please ask where that $18 trillion comes from]
Reporter: So would you rule out reducing tariffs on any more goods?
My Internal Monologue: [ARRRGHHHH]
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
It sure does, Chef.
December 9, 2025 at 11:30 PM
It sure does, Chef.
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Increasing political pressure on the Fed by half as much as Nixon did, for six months, raises the price level by 7% over the next decade.
econweb.umd.edu/~drechsel/pa...
econweb.umd.edu/~drechsel/pa...
December 9, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Increasing political pressure on the Fed by half as much as Nixon did, for six months, raises the price level by 7% over the next decade.
econweb.umd.edu/~drechsel/pa...
econweb.umd.edu/~drechsel/pa...
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Even the High Church of Skokie ACLU had its limits
December 9, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Even the High Church of Skokie ACLU had its limits
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Feds gassed and tackled people in Elgin today, the same day Kristi Noem was in Chicago for a Christmas photo op, after a few weeks of relative quiet.
I'm remembering that old story about groundskeepers at Versailles who would only turn the palace fountains on when the king came by.
I'm remembering that old story about groundskeepers at Versailles who would only turn the palace fountains on when the king came by.
PHOTOS: Feds deploy tear gas in Elgin as hourslong standoff ends in man's arrest
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
December 7, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Feds gassed and tackled people in Elgin today, the same day Kristi Noem was in Chicago for a Christmas photo op, after a few weeks of relative quiet.
I'm remembering that old story about groundskeepers at Versailles who would only turn the palace fountains on when the king came by.
I'm remembering that old story about groundskeepers at Versailles who would only turn the palace fountains on when the king came by.
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
41 minutes of watching two shipwrecked men trying to flip a boat and signaling for surrender/help before firing on them again reminds me of the 9.5 minutes Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck, in that it’s an agonizingly long time to be killing helpless people who clearly posed no threat.
December 6, 2025 at 2:59 PM
41 minutes of watching two shipwrecked men trying to flip a boat and signaling for surrender/help before firing on them again reminds me of the 9.5 minutes Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck, in that it’s an agonizingly long time to be killing helpless people who clearly posed no threat.
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
They cannot be given authority to forcibly remove anyone from their vehicle this way. Think about how bad actors would abuse this power.
December 6, 2025 at 1:15 AM
They cannot be given authority to forcibly remove anyone from their vehicle this way. Think about how bad actors would abuse this power.
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
“We had to kill the survivors in the water with a missile because they might flip the shards of the boat, continue to the US, and sell drugs” is not really any different than “We had to kill the entire village because the children might grow up and join the Vietcong,” except much less plausible
December 5, 2025 at 5:16 AM
“We had to kill the survivors in the water with a missile because they might flip the shards of the boat, continue to the US, and sell drugs” is not really any different than “We had to kill the entire village because the children might grow up and join the Vietcong,” except much less plausible
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Can we get mythbusters to prove if two likely injured people can flip a boat with...
How many pounds of drugs in a boat that likely isn't even buoyant anymore due to the... Missile
How many pounds of drugs in a boat that likely isn't even buoyant anymore due to the... Missile
December 5, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Can we get mythbusters to prove if two likely injured people can flip a boat with...
How many pounds of drugs in a boat that likely isn't even buoyant anymore due to the... Missile
How many pounds of drugs in a boat that likely isn't even buoyant anymore due to the... Missile
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Texas clearly did a racial gerrymander, which is illegal.
A district court found that Texas did a racial gerrymander, rejecting the new map because it is illegal.
But the Supreme Court reversed it.
Because? Must assume the gerrymanderers were acting in good faith (despite the evidence otherwise).
A district court found that Texas did a racial gerrymander, rejecting the new map because it is illegal.
But the Supreme Court reversed it.
Because? Must assume the gerrymanderers were acting in good faith (despite the evidence otherwise).
December 4, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Texas clearly did a racial gerrymander, which is illegal.
A district court found that Texas did a racial gerrymander, rejecting the new map because it is illegal.
But the Supreme Court reversed it.
Because? Must assume the gerrymanderers were acting in good faith (despite the evidence otherwise).
A district court found that Texas did a racial gerrymander, rejecting the new map because it is illegal.
But the Supreme Court reversed it.
Because? Must assume the gerrymanderers were acting in good faith (despite the evidence otherwise).
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
This is the head of the company that CNN just partnered with, insisting that prediction markets are a great way to cut through the noise and determine what’s true and what isn’t.
No, really, listen to him. It’s actually that stupid.
No, really, listen to him. It’s actually that stupid.
The co-founder of Kalshi says: " The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradable asset out of any difference in opinion."
December 3, 2025 at 11:26 PM
This is the head of the company that CNN just partnered with, insisting that prediction markets are a great way to cut through the noise and determine what’s true and what isn’t.
No, really, listen to him. It’s actually that stupid.
No, really, listen to him. It’s actually that stupid.
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
December 3, 2025 at 10:18 PM
NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
Good stuff here.
Now that they’re trying to explain and rationalize what they did, they’re probably on a path to failure. lnk.thebulwark.com/4plrnnG
The Potemkin Pentagon Press
Stacking a briefing room with Trump stans might seem like good praxis for a guy like Pete Hegseth. But it can backfire, too.
lnk.thebulwark.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Good stuff here.
Great stuff.
"[Career military officials] understand what's at stake for the institution."
@pbump.com and the #Nightcap join @stephruhle.bsky.social on the important reporting being done, even as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has kicked most journalists out of the Pentagon.
@pbump.com and the #Nightcap join @stephruhle.bsky.social on the important reporting being done, even as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has kicked most journalists out of the Pentagon.
December 4, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Great stuff.
@radiofreetom.bsky.social You’re in the deepest pit of hell. Devil lets you choose to spend eternity listening to either Zeppelin or Lieutenant Kevin Riley singing I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen. What do you do?
December 4, 2025 at 4:56 AM
@radiofreetom.bsky.social You’re in the deepest pit of hell. Devil lets you choose to spend eternity listening to either Zeppelin or Lieutenant Kevin Riley singing I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen. What do you do?
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Agents in Key Largo, Florida ripped this woman wearing medical scrubs out of her car as she screamed she is a US citizen. Agents cuffed her and put her in one of their cars.
She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:
She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:
December 3, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Agents in Key Largo, Florida ripped this woman wearing medical scrubs out of her car as she screamed she is a US citizen. Agents cuffed her and put her in one of their cars.
She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:
She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Alex Horton, one of the two Washington Post reporters who broke the story, has been a participant in more violent combat than Pete Hegseth by an order of magnitude.
It's not a coincidence that he got the scoop.
It's not a coincidence that he got the scoop.
Q: So you didn't see any survivors after that first strike?
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
HEGSETH: I did not personally see survivors. The thing was on fire. This is called the fog of war. This is what you in the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices and plant fake stories in the Washington Post
December 2, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Alex Horton, one of the two Washington Post reporters who broke the story, has been a participant in more violent combat than Pete Hegseth by an order of magnitude.
It's not a coincidence that he got the scoop.
It's not a coincidence that he got the scoop.
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
Reposted by Stretch Ledford
