capitolhunters Profile picture
helping organize crowdsourced information about the 1/6 Capitol attack. mostly now at: @capitolhunters.bsky.social also: @capitolhunters@mastodon.social
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Jun 19 4 tweets 2 min read
Reminder: Elon Musk, whose Starship just blew up on the test stand (with its extra fuel tanks nearby), was allowed for THIRTY YEARS to lie about his training in science. He started lying in 1995, kept lying - and suffered no consequences. But physics itself has consequences. 1/ Just listen to the man's nonsense about how he is shaped by physics and consider: the press allowed him to bullshit like this for 30 YEARS. Of course he got convinced he can just make up his own reality. If anyone died in the Starship explosion tonight, blame the press too. 2/
Jun 11 4 tweets 2 min read
Sure, it's funny that Fox News is now using "86" in talking about a fired reporter, when less than a month ago they demanded the FBI investigate "86" as a death threat. But the joke is on us. Performative outrage over bullshit is a test of YOU, to see if you'll accept it. 1/ Image You can't criticize Fox's words as hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is when someone committed to the truth is inconsistent. Fox and others are post-truth: they're just making noises to see if they can get you to react. They're gaming you. 2/
Jun 8 6 tweets 3 min read
ABC's explanation of why they suspended correspondent Terry Moran misuses the word "objective". Moran said Stephen Miller was a "world-class hater" and "his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment". Those are objectively true statements. Miller's hatred is deeply documented. 1/ Moran ascribed to Miller an emotion: "hatred". A decade of reporting has documented, objectively, that Miller hates. In 2018, LA Mag interviewed his high school classmates and reported their stories of how Miller hated minorities. "Hate" is their word. 2/
lamag.com/politics/steph…Image
Jun 8 4 tweets 2 min read
Reminder: Trump has tried this before. It's part of his dream of control, to send in the National Guard against the will of a state or mayor. On May 29, 2020, he Tweeted the threat: "Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.." 1/ Image Trump has also overtly sought a Secretary of Defense willing to order the National Guard to shoot at protestors. In 2020 he fired Mark Esper and put in Chris Miller for that reason. Pete Hegseth may face a terrible test now. 2/
Jun 5 4 tweets 2 min read
Howard Lutnick, our Sec. of Commerce, shows a disconnect from material reality that will make Americans die. A weather forecast cannot be "automated" or MADE AT ALL without data. And Trump is cutting the satellites and weather stations that provide that data. 1/ Lutnick, who is in charge of NOAA and its National Weather Service, seem to think that if you say "web" and "cloud" and "computer" and "AI" then by some magic knowledge appears. But weather forecasts depend on MEASUREMENTS. Which Lutnick is cutting. 2/
kcci.com/article/propos…
May 30 4 tweets 2 min read
Since Frank Luntz is defending Elon Musk, a recap: Luntz, like Roger Stone, was one of "Arthur's boys", mentored by Arthur Finkelstein, the dark lord of negative campaigns who (tho gay and Jewish), pushed homophobic far-right extremists - and gave us Orban, Netanyahu, & Trump. 1/ It was the Jewish Arthur Finkelstein who created the antisemitic George Soros conspiracy, to propel Victor Orban to power. Anything to get his clients elected. Everything Luntz says now is shaded by that history. 2/
buzzfeednews.com/article/hnsgra…
May 30 14 tweets 5 min read
Exactly as predicted, now that DOGE has scraped all your personal data from government agencies, it is being given to Peter Thiel's Palantir. It was always going to be Peter, who dreamed of dictatorship for decades, patiently built up his "political project" to seize power. 1/ Image The NYT doesn't say HOW it was decided to give Palantir all your personal data, only that it was a no-bid contract directed by "Elon Musk's DOGE". (DOGE was always a project of Peter's too.) But Thiel had installed a protege to do just this. 2/
nytimes.com/2025/05/30/tec…Image
May 29 6 tweets 3 min read
NOTUS: RFK Jr's big "Make America Healthy Again" report cites non-existent studies and looks written by AI. These people now say they will override scientists to determine what is and is not "gold-standard science". Brace for public health disasters. 1/
notus.org/health-science… Trump is waging war on knowledge. Trump's Executive Order of last week was a bid to seize control of the science agencies, under the pretext that most science data is falsified: "a reproducibility crisis". It's projection - accuse others of what you do. 2/
whitehouse.gov/presidential-a…Image
May 27 7 tweets 3 min read
Today Trump froze ALL student visa applications. Let's be clear on what this is - it's an attack on knowledge. About half the graduate students who power U.S. research are foreign. (Compare dark blue & dark red in chart.) No students = no advances in science, medicine, tech. 1/ Image Politico missed this point today, writing that revoking student visas would hit universities because "many... rely heavily on foreign students for funds". What it hits most is research: those visas go mostly to PhD-student researchers working in labs. 2/
politico.com/news/2025/05/2…
May 19 8 tweets 3 min read
CBS' 60 Minutes is airing a puff piece about weapons maker Anduril, a company backed by Peter Thiel, whose CEO is Matt Gaetz's brother-in-law. Let's remember that both the exec producer of 60 Minutes and the CEO of CBS recently quit saying they were losing editorial control. 1/ Palmer Luckey, Anduril CEO, is eagerly promoting it - it's not going to be hard-hitting. Ask why CBS, facing a bs lawsuit by Trump, is airing a promo for a wanna-be defense contractor deeply tied to the people now tearing apart the federal government. 2/
npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-…
May 11 8 tweets 3 min read
Everyone's talking about the bribery part of Trump's gift of a $400M superluxury airplane from the Emir of Qatar but no one's covered the security risk part. Trump will be doing private meetings in a vehicle provided by a foreign government. 1/
abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump… Is it likely Trump's folks can effectively sweep that plane for listening devices? Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff just walked into a meeting with Putin using a Russian intelligence officer as his translator. They're not the sharpest pencils in the box. 2/
May 9 4 tweets 2 min read
Ed Martin just got named Trump's "Pardon Attorney" (plus Associate Deputy AG). He does know the subject - in 2020, Martin brokered a pardon for Michael Flynn in exchange for Flynn's speaking at Stop the Steal rallies. Martin knows how to cut a pardon deal. 1/ Image This 2023 thread covers the story. Nov. 4, the day after the election, Ali Alexander spun up Stop the Steal with Ed Martin as a top recruit. Nov. 7, Martin reaches out to the White House with a deal: pardon Flynn and he'll help with "base-rallying". 2/
May 6 8 tweets 4 min read
Trump just declared Harvard ineligible for all grants and the NYT botches the story. It's not that "Harvard.. relies on federal money..[for] its projects". It's the federal government that relies on Harvard for its projects. Harvard provides services for you, the taxpayer. 1/ Image The NYT's phrasing is as dumb as saying gosh, your plumber relies on your money for HIS plumbing projects! What happens is the federal government puts out a call for research in some area, on YOUR behalf. Individuals then submit proposals to do that work. Just like plumbers. 2/ Image
May 5 6 tweets 2 min read
Reporters: yes, alt-right gadfly Ivan Raiklin says crazy stuff, but what's most interesting about him is the backstory, how he was groomed to be an influencer. Because Raiklin is of Russian origin: parents are Russian emigres, brother a Russian scholar, wife a Russian teacher. 1/ Ivan Raiklin could have been on a list since his summer in Moscow in 2002. His brother Ben would be known from his PhD ("Stalin’s Documentary Filmmaking Industry, 1926-1946"). And Ben's insecure little brother, an officer in the National Guard, would be such a tempting target. 2/
May 1 5 tweets 2 min read
Stephen Miller confirms what anyone who studies Jan 6 knows: Trump's government wants to control education and impose a national 'patriotic' curriculum. It was OBVIOUS this was coming: Trump promised this in 2020 in exchange for support for his coup. But pundits ignored it. 1/ This account first called it in 2022. THE DAY BEFORE THE ELECTION Trump set up a commission on patriotic education. The people who led it - from Hillsdale & Claremont - then wrote his election-fraud lawsuits, arranged fake electors. They met on Jan 5. 2/
Apr 23 6 tweets 3 min read
Our new Navy Director of Communications watched the action at the Capitol on Jan 6 for Breitbart News. Her worst post might be this one: she flippantly captioned a video of people attacking the North Doors: "Things got a lil sporty here". To her it was a joke. Video tk. 1/ Image Here's Wong's video of the attack on the North Doors. She can claim she was just a reporter, but her caption shows that she thinks an attack on our Capitol and officers is funny. @SECNAV: is this the message you want to send to the troops, who swear to uphold the Constitution? 2/
Apr 22 12 tweets 4 min read
It's clear by now: we WILL lose US democracy without a civil society pushback. Today the universities finally rose up, bluntly denouncing "undue government intrusion". The coalition is is now top-heavy with establishment heavyweights. Summary follows. 1/
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/a… Who signed? Let's start with the Ivies. Status-worship is gross, but it matters that they're nearly all leading now:

* Ivy: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Penn, Brown
NOT Columbia, Dartmouth
* Ivy-plus: MIT, Duke
NOT Stanford, Univ. of Chicago
2/
Apr 21 4 tweets 2 min read
When Trump's goons threatened Harvard it was clear what would happen: first PR, then lawyers. Harvard has now filed suit, solo against 8 government agencies. Two main points: 1) government did not follow procedure, 2) government cannot dictate speech. 1/
harvard.edu/research-fundi…Image As you'd expect, Harvard has also put out a smooth letter explaining their lawsuit. It starts by outlining the 5 attacks Trump has made on Harvard. Then pivots to defending research. Then thoughts on antisemitism - giving Trump an offramp he could take. 2/
harvard.edu/president/news…Image
Apr 21 6 tweets 3 min read
The public needs to learn how Kristi Noem, a cabinet official with Secret Service protection, got her purse snatched with DHS badge, passport, maybe phone: now a security risk. If she'd asked the SS to stand down for privacy, we need to know who was she having dinner with. 1/ Image Either #1: Noem had an intimate restaurant dinner (on Easter?) she felt was so important she put US security at risk. Or, #2: Noem didn't ask the Secret Service to back off, and our elite agency let a purse-snatcher get within arm's length of a cabinet secretary. Or.. 2/
Apr 19 6 tweets 3 min read
The Trump admin now CLAIMS to have made a mistake. Not "acknowledges". Trump's clowns sent a letter signed by 3 government officials, got the predictable response (mighty Harvard swung into battle), tried to amplify and flopped, and so now are whining it's all Harvard's fault. 1/ Image The NYT article is pretty good. It repeats admin claims, but makes it clear that they're in chaos. They know they messed up and are scrambling. Predictably, Harvard had been negotiating, before that letter - but it sent them into battle. Unpaywalled link: archive.is/YsHpJImage
Apr 17 6 tweets 2 min read
A new attack on Harvard, another attempt to impose government control. Trump first tried with $: canceling researchers' grants, threatening taxes. Now an attack via visas: to deport ALL Harvard's international students (38% of PhDs doing lab research). 1/
thecrimson.com/article/2025/4… Trump's demand, again, is a classic from the fascist playbook: to force Harvard to monitor its students and report to the US government. This visa threat can't be countered with money. But Trump is missing one key issue. Many Harvard international undergrads are global elites. 2/