Billy Binion

Billy Binion

@billybinion.bsky.social

Journalist. Criminal justice & government accountability. Yes, this is my real name.

9,666 Followers 126 Following 564 Posts Joined May 2023
4 days ago

I love it so much!

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4 days ago
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An anecdote from my time in opera. Perhaps the people across the world yelling at Timothée Chalamet could take their indignation to the opera box office, where they’ve likely never been.

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4 days ago
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I used to work at an opera company. Paychecks bounced—because there were times when they had $0 in the bank. Glib phrasing aside, Timothée Chalamet was right: few people care about opera.

Absurd that there’s international furor because an actor said a benign fact. www.thefp.com/p/im-a-forme...

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1 week ago

Addendum: She also killed a puppy and bragged about it in a book

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1 week ago

Kristi Noem's tenure at Homeland Security was marked by a lot of dishonesty, a disregard for the Constitution, and a penchant for using public funds on self-promotion. Whatever your politics, that is the record she leaves behind.

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1 week ago
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DHS spent $220 million on ads featuring Kristi Noem. Both parties are grilling her about it in the Senate. During a Senate hearing, the DHS secretary faced tough questions about a campaign that secretly awarded millions to a company with close ties to her.

More recently, Noem spent over $220 million on an advertising campaign featuring herself.

Perhaps worse, the taxpayer-funded contracts circumvented the normal competitive process & were secretly awarded to a company with close ties to Noem. reason.com/2026/03/04/d...

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1 week ago
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How much is Kristi Noem's alleged adultery airplane costing you? If the DHS secretary is actually having a high-flying affair with Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski, the taxpayers are the ones getting screwed.

Noem has spent a lot of taxpayer money. DHS bought a luxury $70 million jet equipped with a private cabin. Noem has been using it to travel with Corey Lewandowski, the adviser with whom she is allegedly having an affair. reason.com/2026/02/13/h...

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1 week ago
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Homeland Security won't stop lying about who immigration enforcers are arresting In case after case, Homeland Security's Public Affairs Office releases incorrect information about arrests carried out by federal immigration officers.

Under Noem's leadership, DHS lied—over and over—about people arrested by immigration enforcement. The government has repeatedly released sensational stories tarring people, only for evidence to come out showing completely different stories. reason.com/2025/10/22/h...

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1 week ago
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DHS says recording or following law enforcement 'sure sounds like obstruction of justice' Seven federal circuit courts have upheld the First Amendment right to record and monitor the police.

Noem threatened to have people prosecuted & jailed for filming law enforcement, despite the fact that 7 federal circuit courts have confirmed that this is a basic First Amendment right. Free speech still applies when inconvenient. reason.com/2025/12/22/d...

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1 week ago
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What Kristi Noem gets wrong about habeas corpus The legal principle safeguards civil liberties, protecting even unpopular people from the government.

Noem's hostility to civil liberties was part of a pattern. In May, she told Congress that the president can suspend habeas corpus on a whim to deport people. That is not how the Constitution works. reason.com/2025/05/20/w...

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1 week ago
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Kristi Noem uses El Salvador's nightmarish megaprison to create content The Homeland Security secretary's use of El Salvador's largest prison for propaganda is unethical and an endorsement of an autocratic justice system.

After shipping hundreds of men to a brutal megaprison—without due process—she showed up in El Salvador to film content wearing a $50,000 watch.

Some of those men had sought asylum here legally. reason.com/2025/03/27/k...

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1 week ago
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In Senate testimony on DHS shootings, Kristi Noem lies about her lies The homeland security secretary blatantly misrepresented what she said about Alex Pretti on the day he was killed.

Noem lied to the public when she called certain Americans "terrorists"—despite the evidence directly contradicting those claims.

Then she went before Congress and lied about her lies. reason.com/2026/03/04/i...

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1 week ago

Kristi Noem smeared dead Americans as “domestic terrorists.” She sent some asylum seekers to a third-world prison without due process. She spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars promoting herself.

Taxpayers paid her while she lied to them. That's her legacy.

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2 weeks ago
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Venezuela's acting dictator is Delcy Rodríguez, a Maduro regime ally with a history of human rights violations Trump chose to work with a sanctioned regime insider accused of human rights abuses and cartel ties rather than the elected opposition.

Delcy Rodríguez is a dictator with a horrible history of violating human rights btw reason.com/2026/01/06/w...

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2 weeks ago

My favorite quote from Trump is when she said he cut drug prices by 600 percent which would mean companies would be THROWING money at us to take drugs lol

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2 weeks ago
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In a recent survey, when economists across the political spectrum were asked if the cost of tariffs is borne by consumers, *95 percent* said yes. It’s not close! It’s not a mystery!

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2 weeks ago

The tariffs are not, in fact, paid for by foreign countries. Virtually every economist agrees they are paid for by Americans, because that is how businesses pass down costs. It's basic economics. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

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2 weeks ago
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In 2024, Trump rejected numbers showing a homicide drop as a 'lie.' Now he is bragging about them. While running against Kamala Harris, Trump claimed homicides were "skyrocketing," disregarding the data contradicting that assertion.

Everyone wants to take credit for declining crime. It was already plummeting during the 2024 campaign, when Trump said the data were "ridiculous" and "a lie." Now he wants to brag about the numbers. That's not how that works. reason.com/2026/02/10/i...

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2 weeks ago

If anything*. Grammatical errors will be forgiven during the State of the Union. Thank u.

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2 weeks ago
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What the media gets wrong about crime Crime analyst Jeff Asher explains the historic decline in murders, why Americans distrust crime statistics, and what the data actually show about public safety.

A reminder that Donald Trump had very little—if nothing—to do with lowering the national crime rate. It started plunging in mid-2023. No one knows why. Finding the actual answer should be important to everyone. reason.com/podcast/2026...

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2 weeks ago

His statement is about the immense harm it caused. Imagine being John Davidson and having to read that, even if he wasn’t mentioned by name. The world would be a much better place if we all showed everyone a little more grace.

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2 weeks ago
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BBC producers say they ‘didn’t hear’ N-word slur as ‘working in a truck’, following second Baftas apology Corporation says it is sorry that words spoken involuntarily during ceremony by John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome, were not edited out

I read his LinkedIn post and he did not cite that, actually. In any case, it was BBC that didn't edit it out, not BAFTA. Even if you don't believe the BBC's excuse, it does not explain why he would feel compelled to resign from the BAFTA judging panel. www.theguardian.com/film/2026/fe...

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2 weeks ago

This is really sad. Anyone who has a friend or family member with Tourette's (as I do) knows it can make you blurt things you expressly *don't* want to say. The reflexive victimhood & lack of compassion here are pitiful.

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3 weeks ago

Whatever your views on trade, the idea that Trump needed to impose tariffs to address an “emergency” was always transparently ridiculous. He’s been unilaterally raising taxes on Americans based on his mood or who offends him.

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3 weeks ago

Hard to think of a story more pundits misunderstand.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia *agreed to be deported*—months ago—to Costa Rica, which accepted. The admin refuses & is insisting on sending him to various African countries, which declined.

He's still here because of the government.

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3 weeks ago
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On This Presidents Day, Stop Worshiping the Imperial Presidency Ah, Presidents Day: a much-needed moment to slow down and commemorate presidents past and present, because we definitely don't have…

Stop worshiping whoever is in the Oval Office. Presidents aren't all-knowing beings worth changing your principles for. They aren't your friends. And they shouldn't be your personality trait. They're your employees. reason.com/2021/02/15/o...

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1 month ago
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11 Insanely Corrupt Speed-Trap Towns CASTLEBERRY, ALABAMA The Birmingham News recently investigated the tiny town of Brookside, Alabama, a place "with no traffic lights and…

A lot of people would be shocked by how many towns fund their budgets with speed traps that are specifically designed to trick drivers & operate as ATMs for the government. It's not about road safety. reason.com/2022/05/08/1...

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1 month ago
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A tiny Alabama town ran an outrageous speed trap. Now it will pay $1.5 million to settle a lawsuit. Brookside, Alabama, made national news in 2022 after investigations revealed it was bankrolling itself through predatory traffic enforcement.

Insane. Cops in this Alabama town systemically slapped people with fake traffic violations & bogus charges to bankroll the government—fines & forfeitures made up *50 percent* of the town budget, totaling $487 per person. Policing for profit. reason.com/2026/02/11/a...

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1 month ago
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In 2024, Trump rejected numbers showing a homicide drop as a 'lie.' Now he is bragging about them. While running against Kamala Harris, Trump claimed homicides were "skyrocketing," disregarding the data contradicting that assertion.

This is why it’s funny that the White House keeps taking credit for crime falling. The decline was already noticeable in 2024, and Trump said that data was “ridiculous” and “a lie.” Now the numbers are magically reliable. That’s…not how this works. reason.com/2026/02/10/i...

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1 month ago

Trump keeps taking credit for the murder decline. But crime started plunging in 2023—long before he returned to office. It’s falling in red & blue areas alike, because presidents don't control crime.

The real story: no one actually knows why it's collapsing. Everyone should want the answer.

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