@mattbellis.bsky.social
Physics professor, CMS, vi, data science (he/him)
Free Press reporter discovers that being an amoral dickhead can cost you friends: defector.com/free-press-r...
15.10.2025 15:43 — 👍 260 🔁 49 💬 15 📌 26Almost like we founded the entire country on opposing this exact sentence.
15.10.2025 14:30 — 👍 7253 🔁 1785 💬 125 📌 31
13.10.2025 05:31 — 👍 14198 🔁 4451 💬 393 📌 127
Multiple airports are now announcing they will refuse to play Kristi Noem’s government-funded video blaming “Democrats” for the government shutdown.
“We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” one airport said.
NASA unit JPL to lay off about 550 workers, citing restructure
13.10.2025 19:23 — 👍 121 🔁 70 💬 10 📌 37I now realize that for my entire adult life, I've had a very narrow conception of what "supporting and defending the Constitution" means. Standing on business when armed agents of the State are knocking on your door is way more important, by a country mile, than anything I did overseas
13.10.2025 12:01 — 👍 1565 🔁 386 💬 13 📌 3
CBS News would never put a thinly sourced 'story' by a rookie blogger like this on it's air. Until now. The Free Press isn't a journalism outlet, it's bloggers aren't reporters. This piece is more NYPost than Tiffany Network but I guess that's the goal.
www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...
Homes flooded in Kipnuk
Flooding seen with water up to the crash barriers of local roads
Sheds and debris lie scattered in the storm
A small blue house has been blown onto its roof
These are mostly indigenous communities in Alaska that have been slammed by the storm.
The local manager of a small airline fleet says he is the only one doing evacuations right now!
Defund FEMA and people are abandoned. Defund public media and no-one knows.
FYI, today is Indigenous Peoples Day.
CBS News: Some NYPD officers worry about Mandani becoming NYC mayor the Free Press reports.
Promoting the editor-in-chief's personal side project. Zero named sources in a story that promotes the editor-in-chief's personal political position. Misspelling the subject's name. It took one day for CBS News to become a conservative blog.
www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...
How Genocide Happened
Front page of Scottish newspaper The National today.
13.10.2025 12:32 — 👍 8749 🔁 3442 💬 43 📌 77
On this date, Matthew Shephard died 27 years ago. He was beaten, tortured, and left for dead on fence for being gay. Please keep him and his wonderful mother Judy in your thoughts. And let's all work for a world where such horrific things do not happen to anyone. ❤️🏳️🌈
13.10.2025 00:25 — 👍 30717 🔁 8355 💬 827 📌 436Incredible that in year 5785 people keep picking fights with Derek and think they’re going to come out ahead
13.10.2025 00:47 — 👍 1636 🔁 28 💬 17 📌 1
Matt Stoller & @matthewstoller • 2h UPS had seven months of warning about the de minimis change, but is still taking packages w/o getting required customs info & is making tariff charge errors. Nice use of passive voice though! derek guy @dieworkwear • 2h i apologize using a passive voice. i was not born in london to a wealthy bank executive, sent to an exclusive private prep school in new hampshire, and then studied at harvard before larping as a champion of the people. you have to work with my low upbringing.
no quarter given lmao
13.10.2025 00:37 — 👍 4629 🔁 468 💬 54 📌 74BBC News explain that because of Brexit, Brits will be photographed and have their fingerprints taken when going into the EU, as the UK now is a third country
BBC News forget to explain that the UK helped create these rules when we were part of the EU because we wanted stronger border control
Exchange between two twitter users. A man called Scott Castaneda write to Tom Morella, "I use to be a fan until your political opinions come out. Music is my sanctuary and the last thing I want to hear is political bs when I'm listening to music. As far as I'm concerned you and pink are completely done. Keep running your mouth and ruining your fan base." User Howard Finklestein replies, "What 'machine' did you think he was raining against? The dishwasher?"
Absolutely love this twitter classic:
11.10.2025 20:15 — 👍 1376 🔁 271 💬 11 📌 12the actual story here, which the media never talks about, is that police in this country have become a discrete right-wing political operation. the story isn't about cops leaving (they're lying about that), it's about the police trying to exert influence over elections.
13.10.2025 01:01 — 👍 21431 🔁 5575 💬 576 📌 196
HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "I'm willing to pay more for quality products if they are made in America, by Americans, who are paid a decent income." The tweet shows Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting, which is often used to show the tweeter is expressing a brave opinion.
HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "MINIMUM WAGE JOBS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE A CAREER. Why does no one understand this? Entry level jobs are STEPPING STONES to better jobs. No one wants to work towards that though."
HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "Buy $5 gloves instead of $50 ones. Trust me." The tweet shows a box of "Gorilla Grip" gloves.
The label on Gorilla Grip gloves show they're made in China.
It's hard to help Americans left behind because so much of US identity is rooted in individualism. The average American conservative holds all three positions at once:
— Virtue signals about supporting US manufacturing
— Against raising the minimum wage
— Buys foreign imports because they're cheap
Excerpt reads: Garland Apparel Group is working to find the next occupant for the town’s long-standing Garland Shirt Company after a lack of orders to meet basic costs necessitate furloughs — and ultimately the closure — of the factory. “The factory was placed on furlough in November. It was our intention to return to work, however, orders needed to keep the factory open and functional, did not materialize,” Kenneth Ragland, managing partner for Garland Apparel Group, told The Independent. “The factory required a minimum number of orders to meet basic costs and wages. The aggregate total of orders we had were simply far too low to support day-to day operations.” During the period of November through today, company leaders have been working with several parties “who have a desire to acquire the factory,” Ragland noted. “One transaction is now close to completion. I cannot opine on the buyer nor their plans, but I know they are North Carolina based and they have need for factory capacity, which Garland can provide,” Ragland stated.
Excerpt reads: Despite bringing back a majority of the workforce, and enjoying success for a couple years, the factory was fighting an uphill battle in the long run. “The factory suffered from Brooks Brothers owning it too long, from Brooks not investing in basic upkeep or in better systems, and ultimately, the lack of interest in Made in the USA,” Ragland stated bluntly. “Lots of people talk about Made in the USA as being so necessary, but when the rubber meets the road, most Americans want cheap goods which does not make it easy for U.S. firms to survive.”
But after not getting enough orders, the company closed. Managing partner Kenneth Ragland said: “Lots of people talk about Made in the USA as being so necessary, but when the rubber meets the road, most Americans want cheap goods, which do not make it easy for US firms to survive.”
12.10.2025 21:37 — 👍 2104 🔁 210 💬 10 📌 6
"Every day at 6 am, Bilma boards a bus that shuttles her to downtown Los Angeles’s Fashion District. When she reaches the garment factory an hour later, she starts working immediately, without punching in. Like thousands of other garment workers in the United States, Bilma’s wages aren’t tethered to the clock but rather to the quantity of operations she executes. Three cents for a zipper or sleeve, five cents for a collar, and seven cents to prepare the top part of a skirt before she passes it onto the next sewing operator in line. Assembling an entire dress earns her a mere 15 cents. Bilma toils away on garments primarily for fast-fashion labels such as Fashion Nova, Lulus, and Lucy in the Sky, who prioritize quickly stocking on-trend items over the quality of materials. These companies peddle things like $80 maxi dresses, $25 poplin dress shirts, and $5 crop tops, all modeled by beautiful people and bedecked with the tantalizing promise of low-cost glamor."
"This worker payment system, known as “piecework” in the garment industry, is how US-based manufacturers can sidestep labor laws that require companies to pay at least the minimum wage. Rather than compensating Bilma for the exhausting 12-hour shifts—a regimen that, according to LA County’s minimum wage requirement, should yield $202.80—her pay is determined by the individual tasks she performs, which can fluctuate daily. Despite her adept handling of hundreds of garments a day, Bilma’s earnings typically linger around $50 per day. That’s $300 weekly for the standard six-day grind and $350 if she opts for Sunday labor. Doing what she can with this modest income, Bilma spends $400 a month to live in a two-bedroom apartment with six other people, some of whom are day laborers. In this crowded arrangement, two occupants squeeze into each bedroom, while two more lay claim to the living room. Bilma sleeps in the corner of the bustling kitchen."
I interviewed one of these factory workers in Los Angeles. She gets paid three cents to sew a zipper, five cents for a collar, and seven cents to prepare the top part of a skirt.
This is how fast fashion brands like Fashion Nova can put "Made in USA" tags on dress shirts that retail for only $25
A garment worker peeking out behind some sewing equipment.
There are, of course, ways to save money in this business. Many US clothing factories run on what's known as a "piece rate" system, where workers are paid per operation, not by the hour. This system allows factories to skirt minimum wage laws.
It's also how we get US sweatshops
🚨🚨🚨WA Governor Bob Ferguson responds to a letter he received from AG Pam Bondi in which she threatened to place him in jail. 🧯He is on fire! 1/2
12.10.2025 19:57 — 👍 23389 🔁 9443 💬 855 📌 656
A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable. " Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”
Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?
11.10.2025 22:22 — 👍 3648 🔁 419 💬 297 📌 321lol liars, every one. Chicago cops threatened to quit if Brandon Johnson was elected mayor. Police union leader LITERALLY threatened "blood in the streets," saying between 800 to 1,000 would walk.
Guess what never happened.
And even if they'd made good on that threat... OK??? BYE????
The New York Times knows crime is not “out of control” in major U.S. cities — in fact, crime is way down from past years and decades — but NYT amplifies JD Vance’s lie without a fact check.
It’s journalism malpractice that helps the fascists.
Everett 13-year-old arrested by ICE and sent to Virginia detention facility By Marcela Rodrigues Globe Staff,Updated October 12, 2025, 44 minutes ago 31 A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia. A 13-year-old boy was arrested by ICE in Everett and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia. A 13-year-old boy was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Everett after an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Virginia, according to his mother and immigration lawyer Andrew Lattarulo. The boy’s mother, Josiele Berto, was called to pick her son up from the Everett Police Department on Thursday, the day he was arrested. After waiting for about an hour and a half, she was told her son was taken by ICE, Berto told the Globe in a phone interview. “My world collapsed,” Berto said in Portuguese. From the police department, the boy was taken to ICE’s holding facility in Burlington on Thursday evening, where he spent a night before being transferred by car to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on Friday morning, his mother said. The juvenile facility is more than 500 miles away from Everett. The boy is a 7th-grader at Albert N. Parlin School in Everett, his mother said. The teen and his family, who are Brazilian nationals, have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, Lattarulo said.
ICE kidnapped a 7th-grader with a pending asylum claim and spirited him out of state without notifying his parents, seemingly with the cooperation of the local police in Everett, MA.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/m...
A nice piece from Ben Folds on Hayley Williams and her political music: substack.com/inbox/post/1...
12.10.2025 22:26 — 👍 52 🔁 10 💬 2 📌 1Hi Sally. When Weiss published a supposed expose on the death of George Floyd, a veteran criminal justice reporter showed in deep detail that the piece was not just wrong but filled with falsehoods and misrepresentations. Weiss did not retract the piece. What do you think of that?
12.10.2025 18:20 — 👍 15354 🔁 2714 💬 294 📌 78
“I spent three nights and three days in federal custody. During that time, I was never told what I was charged with, was not allowed to shower despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, had no phone call to my family, and no access to an attorney.” - George Retes, U.S. citizen and veteran.
12.10.2025 12:01 — 👍 11831 🔁 6120 💬 345 📌 346Claim: 10 cars rammed ICE
Truth: No cars rammed ICE
Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in
Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle
Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired
Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her
Ever since I made a video about Fourier Transforms, one of the most requested topics on the channel has been its close cousin, the Laplace Transform.
I've been having a lot of fun animating a mini-series about this topic, and the main part is now out.
youtu.be/j0wJBEZdwLs
