Adam H Johnson

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

How To Oppose Genocide Without Opposing Genocide (Part 2): AIPAC Dems' Fake Israel Criticisms Citations Needed is a podcast about the media, power, PR, and the history of bullshit. It is hosted by Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson, and produced by Florence Barrau-Adams.

In Ep 231, "How To Oppose Genocide Without Opposing Genocide (Part 2): AIPAC Dems' Fake Israel Criticisms," we detail the buyers' market for superficial Gaza critiques that permit ambitious Democrats to look pro-Palestine without the downside of actually being so.

With guest @tksshawa.bsky.social.

For anyone else yes but he’s a genuine psychopath

No he’s 100% pure uncut cynicism. JD Vance believes only in JD Vance.

Thank you

Thank you!

Overview of the book.

How to Sell a Genocide - Pluto Press A gripping exposé of how the corporate media fuelled genocide in Gaza

I wrote a book about US media’s complicity in the Gaza genocide. It's available for pre-order. It’s a data-driven and, I hope, thorough account of how center-left media sold the American public on mass death in Gaza.

Out 4/21. 100% of royalties go to @mecaforpeace.bsky.social.

There’s a lot that some of these guys can play off but asking the worlds most notorious child sex trafficker for advice on how to score with your much younger mentee is a tough hook to wiggle off of. Esp when the last correspondence on the matter was literally the day before he was arrested