At Patel’s request or encouragement, NAF provided the Biden DOJ with substantial information that aided in identifying investigation targets and substantiating warrants and

prosecutions. 53 NAF alerted Patel to social media posts that made violent threats against clinics54 and concerns about protest activities that could constitute blockades in violation of the FACE Act. 55 In the Handy matter, Patel emailed NAF: “I can’t recall if you ever shared anything with me (either through an attachment or via Dropbox) about Jonathan Darnell’s arrest . . . If you did, can you resend that to me?” 56

53 See, e.g., E-mail from Patel, to Megan Healy (Nov. 16, 2020) (Exhibit 040) (“NAF is obtaining the security video from the vandalism for me.”). 54 E-mail from Patel, to Emma Goldberg (NAF) (Apr. 12, 2021) (Exhibit 041) (flagging that Patel forwarded the information to the FBI immediately and noting that he was “designated as the DOJ National FACE Act Task force director” and wanted to call about exploring outreach initiatives). 55 E-mail from Fleisher, to Patel (Aug. 18, 2020) (Exhibit 042) (responding to a NAF alert about Handy’s pro-life activities in Washington, D.C., a CRT attorney asked NAF to let him know “[i]f she actually ends up causing any obstruction,” and noted that while he could not speak for the Criminal Section, “we on the civil side might be interested in looking further”); E-mail from Davidson, to [Redacted], FBI (Jan. 30, 2021) (Exhibit 043) (alerting DOJ to Handy’s activities in Maryland). 56 E-mail from Patel, to Davidson (Dec. 8, 2020) (Exhibit 044).

In its "weaponization" report on the FACE Act, DOJ once again struggles to answer the most difficult question of all: who was president in 2020? www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justi...

“Key historical records about the incident during the Reagan administration, known as the Able Archer 83 War Scare, were removed without explanation.“

This was the war game that nearly started WWIII during my first semester of college. It took years for us to find out about it. Now it’s gone.

A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)

More context on this #Artemis II image:

* This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right

* The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon:
☀️🌍🚀🌕

Can a Journalist Be a Celebrity Anymore?

i can't articulate exactly why, but this is the antidote i needed to the stories about journalists embracing AI www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/s...

I don't need a summary of what's available online, in biographies, or even in my own notes. I need to comb through and find the great details, decide what interests ME. No, it's not efficient. It's slow and painstaking. But I don't believe in efficiency as an ultimate good, especially in writing. /

<interior, space boat>

He drinks a Chocolate Breakfast Drink
He drinks a Vanilla Breakfast Drink
He drinks a Strawberry Breakfast Drink
He drinks a Pineapple Drink

Why Russia's broadcaster RT turned to covertly funding American pro-Trump influencers RT was long known to be a source of Russian propaganda. But a recent indictment of two employees for covertly funneling $10 million to pro-Trump influencers shines a light on its covert activities.

the thing is, foreign influence campaigns don't only involve foreign actors. see: that time RT covertly paid American influencers www.npr.org/2024/09/25/n...

and yet also today, right-wing outlets that sued State over alleged censorship say they've reached a settlement that "bars the State Department from working with foreign governments or NGOs—formally or informally" on efforts they claim "suppresses or fact-checks" speech nclalegal.org/press_releas...

NASA's Artemis II Live Views from Orion YouTube video by NASA

what, am i NOT gonna listen to the live Orion feed for the next 10 days? www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rwf...

Enjoying the savvy of the “For All Mankind” marketing

it me! also a fun fact, my consular report of birth abroad certificate doesn't have my parents' names on it. this caused a lot of consternation when i went to get a learner's permit, bcs my mom and i have different last names and the DMV employee refused to accept it as proof she was my parent.

ahahhaah what band??

Adam means that she is the daughter of immigrants, but it is worth emphasizing that *every* U.S. citizen who has not been naturalized is a birthright citizen, either by the 14th Amendment or by statute.

i've realized that in middle age my media diet is steadily veering into Dad Content: space! spies! Cold War! WWII! (see also: the pile of le Carre and Ben Macintyre books on my bedside table)

Screenshot from the NASA Artemis II launch livestream showing the core stage separation from a camera on the rocket.

What a fucking shot holy shit

i'm on the final ep of season 2 and let me tell you i am INVESTED

you're just in time since they are also about to launch the companion series that tells the story from the Soviet POV!

also i picked the right time to finally get into For All Mankind

i didn't realize until watching it with my kid today how much capacity i still have to be excited about human ingenuity. space is cool, and we shouldn't let the billionaires take that sense of wonder from us.

Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Help America Vote Act of 2002

NEW: With no authority under the Constitution to change election rules, President Trump has signed an executive order that calls for restricting voting by mail. The order is expected to be challenged in court
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Memorandum & Opinion – #81 in NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, INC. v. TRUMP (D.D.C., 1:25-cv-01674) – CourtListener.com MEMORANDUM OPINION: For the reasons contained herein, the Court will GRANT in part, DENY as moot in part, and DENY in part without prejudice Plaintiffs' motions for summary judgment, NPR Dkt. 21 and P...

"It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the President does not like and seeks to squelch."

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

It was just 24 days between when Zuck went on Rogan and talked about how "never again" would he suppress info based on gov't demands (misrepresenting those demands) and when he texted top gov't employee Elon Musk to say "we're all set up to take down info you want removed."

I wrote about it here.

independent researchers suing the Trump admin over denying visas have are now asking for a preliminary injunction. motion notes that the DOJ hasn't assigned a lawyer to the case yet (?!)

A friend who was at the hearing tipped me off that Judge Brasel asked DOJ if that part of their brief was written by AI. They denied it, but she ordered the attorneys' superiors to provide her an explanation. I couldn't afford to go spend $315 on the full transcript, but it's out there.

Wikipedia Bans AI-Generated Content “In recent months, more and more administrative reports centered on LLM-related issues, and editors were being overwhelmed.”

New: Wikipedia has officially banned AI-generated content. After months of heated debate and previous attempts to restrict the use of LLMs, volunteer editors accepted a new policy that prohibits using them to create articles for the online encyclopedia

www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...

"When asked why Hegseth made a public statement that had no legal effect and that did not reflect the immediate intent of DoW, counsel stated, 'I don’t know.'"

Counsel for Defendants agreed that he was not aware of any statute that gave Secretary Hegseth the authority to issue such a prohibition and agreed that the statement had “absolutely no legal effect at all.”

When asked why Hegseth made a public statement that had no legal effect and that did not reflect the immediate intent of DoW, counsel stated, “I don’t know.”

sorry but this is extremely funny

Order on Motion for TRO – #134 in Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War (N.D. Cal., 3:26-cv-01996) – CourtListener.com ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION 6 . Signed by Judge Rita F. Lin on 3/26/2026. (afm, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 3/26/2026) (Entered: 03/26/2026)

federal judge temporarily blocks govt's ban on Anthropic: "Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government."
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Meta Loses Insurance for Defense in Major Social Media Addiction Litigation A Delaware judge has ruled insurers do not have a duty to defend Meta Platforms in the thousands of lawsuits that allege its Facebook and Instagram

after $375M verdict today in New Mexico, another jury verdict expected this week in LA, and 2,000 other consolidated cases pending against Meta, this is potentially a really big deal www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/ma...