Although the Supreme Court has yet to say so itself (and probably won’t any time soon, given its current composition), it’s generally accepted that citizens have the right to film public officials performing their public duties. Law enforcement officers, however, seem to feel this should never be a right and that their actions in full view of the public shouldn’t be memorialized by anything other...
There’s a trick at the center of American political discourse—so deeply embedded that even well-meaning people don’t realize they’re performing it. It goes like this: if you’re a fair-minded individual, you must believe that both political parties are fundamentally the same. To assert a meaningful difference in their commitment to truth, democracy, or constitutional governance is to betray your...
This was the way it was always going to end: with Trump turning the Oval Office into the palace of a king. One need look no further than Trump’s attempt to invoke the vengeful spirits of the Overlook Hotel by adding a $200 million ballroom to the White House, as though this were the early 1900s and we, the people, would be easily impressed by gilded, ostentatious displays of excess.
Now that...
When politicians immediately blamed social media for the horrific 2022 Buffalo mass shooting—despite zero evidence linking the platforms to the attack—it was obvious deflection from actual policy failures. The scapegoating worked: survivors and victims’ families sued the social media companies, and last year a confused state court wrongly ruled that Section 230 didn’t protect them.
Thankfully, an...
They say you should never stop learning, and at Stone River, that mantra is a way of life. Through this subscription, you’ll get full access to 800+ courses and 4,800 hours of online learning, covering everything from iOS mobile development to graphic design. Plus, you’ll get a range of VIP perks, including unlimited eBooks and personal guidance on what to learn. With all of this content, you are...
This remains one of the most unintentionally funny things the Trump administration has ever done. Of course, this regime isn’t known for its sense of humor, so anything generating a laugh exists despite the regime, rather than because of it.
But laugh we will! Trump is throwing billions at ICE, hoping a whole bunch of money will finally allow it to arrest 3,000 migrants per day and deport over...
Back in June the Trump administration announced it would be launching a new mobile phone company, including a new Trump branded phone they claimed would be “made in the U.S.” As we noted then, it was all mostly bullshit: the venture was just a flimsy rebranding of an existing MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), which in turn was being run over the T-Mobile network.
The Trump phone itself,...
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Arianity with a comment about how RFK Jr. approaches things:
He is literally a eugenicist. If you dig down into his beliefs, he consistently thinks that if you die to something, it’s because you were “weak” and deserved it.
In second place, it’s MrWilson with a comment about Trump firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner:...
Five Years Ago
This week in 2020, we looked at how the DHS was surveilling journalists who published leaked documents and how they obtained the encrypted messages of protestors. The FCC was trying to pretend Trump’s executive order about social media wasn’t ridiculous, and one commissioner who suggested it was unconstitutional was rapidly withdrawn from renomination. The TikTok situation got more...
Disney spent 18 months negotiating to create a digital version of Dwayne Johnson for the live-action Moana film. Johnson agreed. The technology was ready. Then Disney’s lawyers killed the whole thing—not because of privacy concerns or actor rights, but because they worried parts of the film might end up in the public domain.
This is exactly what we predicted would happen. While everyone obsessed...