Kristin Pearson

Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.

this is wild: while Stephen Miller's guy was in Minnesota for his uncle's funeral, somebody was able to see his entire phone and take pictures of his Signal group chats talking about military deployments to Portland, and brought them to the Strib (gift link: www.startribune.com/trump-offici...)

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

This is why: www.military.com/daily-news/2...

One of the things you really learn working with current or retired GOFOs is that they *all know one another*. Their personal networks are *insane*.

They may not all like one another *at all* in some cases, but like, they know one another.

There is a difference between righteous anger, directed at injustice, and hateful anger, directed at those who are different. Authoritarian regimes deliberately conflate the two to silence criticism and create false equivalence. It's important we don't let those in power succeed in this endeavor.

Fun story this morning. I spoke with Curtis Evans, the retired Marine in the viral photo below who took part in the anti-ICE protest at Broadview. He's a thoughtful guy, well read and with a dry sense of humor. Story @taskandpurpose.com taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-...

Amid an ongoing wave of conspiracy theories and bogus claims about Jan 6, I’ll note this from our reporting:

Rioters made all kinds of claims and defenses in court … and jurors convicted 100% of the defendants who went to trial

100%

Glad I’m not the only one who keeps doing that.

As a resident of #Portland it is impossible to capture how unhinged this is. We are a low crime city and the ICE protest "siege" consists of one auxiliary ICE office that normally has at most a dozen weirdos debating what performance art they should use to block a single driveway

Real post on another network:

REPORTER: Do you think that NATO countries should shoot down Russian aircraft if they enter their airspace?

TRUMP: Yes I do

A bit underplayed that the Homan sting didn't reportedly come out of a public corruption investigation, it was a counter-intelligence one. Which means they somehow made the not-very-far leap to him from initially targeting a foreign and almost certainly state actor.

Harrison Butker too far to the right again huh

Federal Judge Strikes Trump Defamation Lawsuit For Being Too Annoying to Read Lawsuits rarely get tossed under Rule 8. But then again, lawsuits rarely spend 85 meandering pages talking about things like the plaintiff’s “singular brilliance.”

Getting your defamation lawsuit struck under Rule 8 is roughly analogous to getting sent home early on the first day of school because you decided not to wear pants ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

There's absolutely zero shame to admitting you don't know something.

Letting go of shame is the path to real happiness. The sooner you stop trying to be "cool" or "popular", the happier you'll be. Embrace your weird and your cringe. Trying to impress people who you don't even like is never worth the effort.

Yea, came here to say this as well.

genuinely crazy that this is happening on behalf of charlie kirk of all people

I’ve spent the last hour trying to put the SC S.B. 323 proposed language to ban birth control into an easy to understand visual flow chart. I asked my husband if it made sense and he said no. Fine. Then he proposed this simple chart instead, which, yes, is actually correct.

¿Y Tú Mama TAMBIÉN? ¿En esta economía??

I’m more used to saying this to people on the Left than people on the Right, but, “hate speech” is not an exception to the First Amendment. “Hate speech” is protected by the First Amendment unless it falls into a traditional established exception.

This is exceptional. Everyone should read it.

At its core it’s inspiring and hopeful about the ability of determined lawyers and judges to use the law to protect those Trump and his followers would harm.

But it’s also devastating. I never much believed in evil, but I do now.

It is wildly unusual for lower-court judges to so publicly express frustration with the Supreme Court’s *behavior* (versus, say, a confusing ruling in a specific case).

But the number of *different* examples is completely unprecedented—and pretty powerful evidence that something is seriously wrong.

Poland downs drones in its airspace, becoming first NATO member to fire during war in Ukraine Poland shot down suspected Russian drones in its airspace on Wednesday with the backing of aircraft from its NATO allies, the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired shots during Russia's war in Ukraine.

The most alarming news story of the day is hardly being discussed: 'Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament it was "the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two"'

The subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement. Our investigation continues and we will continue to release information in interest of transparency FBI Director Kash Patel # © @FBIDirectorKash • 3h The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody. Thank you to the local and state authorities in Utah for your partnership with @fbi. We will provide updates when able.

In a suit filed earlier today by three fired FBI officials, Patel and Bongino are portrayed as being so obsessed with social media that it could “risk outweighing more deliberate analyses of investigations."

rarely have I more acutely felt the dynamic by which Dems are held responsible for the rhetoric of every random left-leaning person on the internet and Republicans are not even asked to answer for their own personal words

Thesis: Trump is ticking off his authoritarian to do list quickly
Antithesis: While Trump is *trying* to tick off his authoritarian to do list, he's not fully succeeding

Synthesis: Each item on this check list is not a binary but a spectrum, and we're *way* too far down the spectrum for any comfort

this point—that this era is not forever and accountability can come in many forms—has for some reason proved bizarrely elusive for democrats

Screenshot of viral, baseless BlueSky post

Screenshot of Adobe stock photo page showing that account's profile picture is AI-generated https://stock.adobe.com/images/Young-adult-man-hiking-in-the-winter-forest-generated-by-AI/710231013

The account that made this viral post uses a AI-generated stock photo as their profile picture, and the main claim that Big Balls "was harassing and trying to pick up the 15-year-old girl" is not in the article.

We are not immune from disinformation.