Adam H Johnson

News Brief: As Trump Crushes Academia, the NYT and Atlantic Still Fight 'Woke' Wars from 5 Years Ago In this News Brief, we are joined by Chenjerai Kumanyika and Todd Wolfson of the American Association of University Professors to discuss Trump's gutting of higher education, its expansion on previous

In "As Trump Crushes Academia, the NYT and Atlantic Still Fight 'Woke' Wars from 5 Years Ago," we are joined by Chenjerai Kumanyika & Todd Wolfson of @aaup.org to discuss Trump's gutting of higher education, neoliberalism's college takeover and the possible end of academic independence as we know it

News Brief: NYT Rushes to Defend "Reformed" Police Depts From Liberal Anti-ICE Backlash | Citations Needed Get more from Citations Needed on Patreon

In this New Brief, we detail how the New York Times, Atlantic, and others are using the specter of ICE's extreme violence and kidnappings to create a narrative of successful post-George Floyd police reform that simply does not exist.

Police and their media allies are using the horrors of Trump’s ICE kidnaps squads to launder police depts’ reputations and promote a baseless narrative of successful post George Floyd “reforms”. I wrote about this is PR blitz and why it’s bullshit.

We will continue to repost this evergreen piece from @ahjohnson.bsky.social

BariWeiss is doing exactly what she was chosen by the Ellisons to do.

YouTube video by The Real News Network Strike against ICE: Baltimore joins national day of protest

🚨 BALTIMORE STRIKES AGAINST ICE.

NEW FROM ME @therealnews.com

Watch here:
youtu.be/QJNpqRxDatY

News Brief: ICE, Senate Dems' Counterinsurgency PR, and the Limits of Body Cam Liberalism In this News Brief, we detail the fundamental problems with Senate Democrats' cosmetic reforms, the strategy of letting outrage blow over and the conspicuous absence of any proposal that touches ICE's

In this News Brief, "ICE, Senate Dems' Counterinsurgency PR, and the Limits of Body Cam Liberalism," we detail the fundamental problems with Senate Democrats' cosmetic reforms, the strategy of letting outrage blow over and the conspicuous absence of any proposal that touches ICE's obscene budget.

without the specter of a much wider shutdown Democrats have zero leverage. This tactic exists purely to let public outrage blow over as Trump floods the zone with 18 other emergencies.

Senate Democrats’ DHS "Reforms" Shaping Up To Be Another Kneeling Kente Cloth Moment “Body cams,” vague demands of “accountability,” but no attempt to cut DHS's obscene budget is a recipe for status quo maintenance.

I wrote about Senate Dems’ proposed “reforms,” which range from superficial to likely unenforceable to actively harmful; the grip billionaire-backed anti-“abolish” Groups have over Washington and the conspicuous absence of any attempt to touch DHS’s obscene budget.

In response to the Renee Good killing, Dems propose ICE reforms that would have done nothing to prevent the Renee Good killing Good’s killer was a 10-year ICE veteran, himself a trainer, and recorded the killing. What good would more training and more cameras have done?

NEW: If ICE was a national military it would be the 13th biggest in the world, IPS @nationalpriorities.bsky.social researchers found.

To make ICE less deadly, Democratic leadership must focus less on weak reforms and more on cutting its colossal funding. @ahjohnson.bsky.social in @therealnews.com:

I broke down the ICE “reforms” being proposed by Dem leadership. tl;dr: They totally avoid touching ICE’s funding, in key ways actually increase ICE funding and instead focus on meaningless busywork like “body cams” and “more training”.

News Brief: As Dem Leadership Waffles—Labor, Organizers, Immigrants Fight Back in Minneapolis In this News Brief, we break down Democratic leadership's fatuous

In this News Brief, "As Dem Leadership Waffles—Labor, Organizers, Immigrants Fight Back in Minneapolis," we break down Dem leadership's fatuous "body cam" and "training" response to ICE brutality, and how organizers in the Twin Cities are not settling for cosmetic reform.

w/ guest Janette Corcelius

News Brief: For Media Reporting on Iran, Trump Suddenly Morphs into Pro-Democracy Humanitarian In this News Brief, we discuss corporate media uncritically framing a potential military attack on Iran by Trump as being motivated by concern for human rights—a premise that, while laughable on its f

In this News Brief, we discuss corporate media uncritically framing a potential military attack on Iran by Trump as being motivated by concern for human rights—a premise that, while laughable on its face, has quickly morphed into elite media consensus.

Oh yeah forgot about that one

Trump claims to want to bomb Iran over human rights concerns. This excuse is obviously pretextual, fake and not something Trump has ever expressed interest in until 12 days ago. Nevertheless, as I write, corporate media is uncritically reporting on it as if it’s a sincere and genuine conviction.

News Brief: How Corporate Media Laid the Groundwork for a Rightwing Incitement Campaign in Minnesota In this News Brief, we detail how CBS, Fox, WSJ, and NYT promoted an essentialized, overblown narrative on the

In this News Brief, "How Corporate Media Laid the Groundwork for a Rightwing Incitement Campaign in Minnesota," we detail how CBS, WSJ, NYT promoted an overblown narrative on the "Somali Minnesota fraud" story, teeing up a full blown rightwing incitement campaign.

w/ @matthewccook5.bsky.social

I wrote about reporters’ refusal to use “act of war,” “invasion” or “coup” when covering Trump’s brazen attacks on Venezuela, instead echoing WH-approved euphemisms, and the broader trend of our press dutifully giving Trump’s lawlessness the vague whiff of international legitimacy when it has none.

Everything becomes clearer when you realize that 60% of the online right is just guys sitting around waiting for the plot of Taken (2008) to happen to them and when it doesn’t they seek out adjacent fantasies (Somali scams, QAnon, Venezuelan fentanyl pushers etc)

Bari Weiss Is Doing Exactly What She Was Installed at CBS to Do Cutting one “60 Minutes” segment is a small price to be paid to keep Trump happy and shape the future of American media.

Excellent by @theintercept.com @ahjohnson.bsky.social

This is the CBS / 60minutes context: Ellison's emissary Bari Weiss is doing exactly what she was chosen to do.

"about consolidating top-down oligarchical control over legacy media brands that will endure"

theintercept.com/2025/12/22/b...

It’s not the best design, it’s just in your cart now, I believe. Click on the cart

Bari Weiss Is Doing Exactly What She Was Installed at CBS to Do Cutting one “60 Minutes” segment is a small price to be paid to keep Trump happy and shape the future of American media.

"Weiss and Ellison’s interference into “60 Minutes” creates a de facto state media, but their burgeoning empire is about consolidating oligarchical control over legacy media that will endure long after Trump fades into irrelevance," writes @ahjohnson.bsky.social. theintercept.com/2025/12/22/b...

The US has no legal authority to hijack ships in international waters that are evading US piracy no. There is no international law permitting them to do this and you will not find one because it doesn’t exist

lmao this is just made up, no one is claiming the tanker is owned by “a Russian oligarch”

US Media Rushes to Manufacture Legal Legitimacy for Trump’s Venezuela Oil Tanker Piracy Venezuela oil exports are not “black market” and US sanctions are not “international sanctions.” Why does our media keep saying otherwise?

I wrote about NYT, CNN, and ABC’s casual acceptance that US dictates and Trump’s arbitrary use of American violence against Venezuela is somehow a form of “international” law. It’s not, and US media should stop implying and/or outright lying that it is.

US Media Rushes to Manufacture Legal Legitimacy for Trump’s Venezuela Oil Tanker Piracy Venezuela oil exports are not “black market” and US sanctions are not “international sanctions.” Why does our media keep saying otherwise?

@ahjohnson.bsky.social explains how the media, including (surprise surprise!) the New York Times, is covering for Trump and lying to us about the Venezuelan oil tanker

www.columnblog.com/p/us-media-r...

News Brief: CNN Partners with Gambling App That Lets You Wager on Starvation in Gaza | Citations Needed Get more from Citations Needed on Patreon

In this News Brief, "CNN Partners with Gambling App That Lets You Wager on Starvation in Gaza," we break down CNN's partnership with Kalshi, the moral hazards of news gambling markets and the broader media-assisted financialization of every aspect of our lives.

Cover art of the book "The Overseer Class: A Manifesto" by Steven W. Thrasher. The cover is a black and white woodcut, with the title appearing over the images of three African American faces. To the left, is a face without eyes, in profile. To the right, is a man in a suit with no eyes looking forward. In the center is a police officer with eyes. Inside of him is a Black man on his knees, appearing to have been whipped. They all tower over raised fists.

Coming May 19, 2026 from Amistad Books and HarperCollins

THE OVERSEER CLASS:
A Manifesto

by Steven W. Thrasher

cover art by Jamaal Barber

Available for pre-order now www.harpercollins.com/products/the...

Man she is so cool

I wrote about CNN partnering with a gambling app that lets you wager on famine in Gaza, what this shift portends in our media, the obvious moral hazards of this arrangement, and “news” as politically impotent, disempowering spectator sport

News Brief: BBC's Gaza Double Standard and Western Liberalism's Crisis of Legitimacy In this public News Brief, we interview journalist Daniel Trilling and discuss his investigation into the BBC's systemic anti-Palestinian bias.

In this News Brief, "BBC's Gaza Double Standard and Western Liberalism's Crisis of Legitimacy," we interview journalist Daniel Trilling and discuss his investigation into the BBC's systemic anti-Palestinian bias.

Preordered this so fast