Ben Watson

Ben Watson

@benwatson.bsky.social

senior multimedia editor at Defense One // Newsletter: The D Brief // Podcast: Defense One Radio // Signal: watson.90 // Likes = bookmarks, etc.

383 Followers 508 Following 9 Posts Joined Jul 2023
4 months ago

It's easy to look at this and say: These people just need to choose reliable sources.

But: How should they determine what's reliable? Teachers and professors are scared to touch anything that seems political, including helping students distinguish reliable from unreliable sources of news. 1/

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4 months ago
White words on a black background read:

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Immigration agents have the authority to detain whom they reasonably suspect are in the country illegally. We found more than 50 Americans who were held after agents questioned their citizenship. They were almost all Latino.

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Agents also can arrest citizens who allegedly interfered with or assaulted officers. We compiled cases of about 130 Americans, including a dozen elected officials, accused of assaulting or impeding officers. 

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Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer.

Hi, I'm the ProPublica reporter who's been tracking an unusual stat: U.S. citizens grabbed by immigration agents.

I did it because the government isn’t.

This is what I found.

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4 months ago
Post from WH about Chicago "in chaos," showing scene from another state.

A terrific AFP fact check uses reverse image searches to expose how a White House video took scenes from Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Nebraska and lied that they showed "Chicago is in chaos."
factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com....

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5 months ago
Preview
ICE impersonator incidents rise during Trump’s second term | CNN A CNN review has found two dozen incidents of people posing as ICE officers in 2025 – more incidents than during the prior four presidential terms combined.

A CNN review has found two dozen incidents of people posing as ICE officers in 2025 – more incidents than during the prior four presidential terms combined.

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1 year ago

Overheard at the Pentagon: “I’ve got my five points ready. I’ve been a productive member of society.”

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1 year ago

The struggle over democracy is not just one among many issues. It’s an overarching concern that transcends and permeates all areas of public policy. It sets the conditions for how we determine who belongs, whose sensibilities and rights count, how we deal with all the collective action challenges.

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1 year ago

Source: "Is This Democracy" podcast, episode 37 // Jan 24, 2025
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3...

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1 year ago

“That’s not like the be all end all explanation for everything that’s going on," @thomaszimmer.bsky.social, Georgetown University historian, replied. "But I think that’s a good—if you put that at the center of your interpretation of what’s going on, I think you’re on the right track,” he said.

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1 year ago
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Regarding Trump's desire to end birthright citizenship by reinterpreting the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, here's an interesting note of contrast by @lilymasonphd.bsky.social, political scientist at Johns Hopkins University:

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1 year ago
Preview
Defense One Radio, Ep. 170: Year in review We listen back on more than a dozen guests from conversations across 2024.

A fascinating crash course in national security in 2024, from @defenseone.bsky.social and @benwatson.bsky.social. www.defenseone.com/ideas/2024/1...

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1 year ago

Time will tell how far Trump can take his campaign promise to launch the “largest deportation operation in American history." After all, he campaigned on building a border wall in 2016 and that was never completed. But Team Trump, of course, has more experience and guidance this time around.

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1 year ago

Why bring it up: Team Trump 2.0 is reportedly preparing for two main objectives in the year ahead.
• changes to border security/immigration policy
• and a return of Trump 1.0 tax cuts

www.semafor.com/article/12/0...

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1 year ago

The claim purports to reveal hypocrisy—a powerful allegation, in this case seeking permission by precedent—when (to me) it seems closer to whataboutism and a kind of projection, if not the classic political deception/lies.

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1 year ago
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DeSantis wrong: Migrants not deported on Martha's Vineyard As he moves toward a potential bid for president, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has highlighted his efforts to crack down on

It's fairly easy to check into this and discover the claim is not true.

See here, e.g.
www.politifact.com/factchecks/2...
www.politifact.com/factchecks/2...
• www.npr.org/2022/09/16/1...

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2 years ago

🎙️Our first author interview of 2024 just posted Friday: www.defenseone.com/threats/2024...

It's a revealing conversation about the recent history of anti-government, far-right militancy in America, with @cfr.org's Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware.

Check out their new book→ www.cfr.org/book/god-gun...

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