Adam Rose
@adamrose.bsky.social
Deputy Director of Advocacy @freedom.press + 🤓 Fellow at Starling Lab (Stanford+USC) 🗞️ Board of Directors @lapressclub.bsky.social 🆕 Anchor on Medlines
LAPD internal affairs continues to investigate itself for misconduct toward press at protests. My update totals on allegations closed since last summer. Only 2 of 38 acknowledge anything wrong (but no discipline). Meanwhile a federal judge found so much evidence he slapped LAPD with an injunction.
Before you try to spike my cortisol, just know that I’m having a Jack Johnson summer.
Stressed? Overwhelmed? Have You Tried Being Jack Johnson Instead?
His frozen-in-time anthems, odes to going with the flow, are the soundtrack to a summer of “hopecore.”
nytimes.com
Federal judge in Vasquez Perdomo v. Mullin just held US government in contempt for failure to provide immigration stop data. Only problem? The sanction is $500/day. Feds can pay that forever. It's meaningless to them. Their budget is $7 trillion/year, or about $222,000/second. 🫠
Bonkers statistic noted by @rcfp.org's Bruce Brown in tonight's edition of @status.news: In 25 years, feds tried to used "national security" to expose reporter sources on 3 occasions. In the last few months, Trump admin has already tried it at least 4 times. This is pure authoritarian playbook.
![• The NYT revealed that one of its freelance reporters, Matthew Cole, has been fighting a subpoena from Donald Trump’s Justice Department since February, as part of the administration’s effort to force him to reveal his sources for a story about a failed secret mission in North Korea. [NYT]
• In response, Reporters Committee President Bruce D. Brown noted that over the last 25 years, “There have only been three attempts in national security leaks cases to force reporters to name their sources.” Now, he added, “We have four attempts—that we know of—in the space of a few months.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6oexpvmrh6pxfay73gheefhm/bafkreifsxijrz2y4tgn7w5tznwtyzzlzo4263qzoiynjisvoius52kkglm)
Being friends with journalists on social media is confusing. I want to support them and click “like” on great coverage they’re doing. But then I think, “How can I ‘like’ a post on [war, death, destruction, crime, kidnapping, atrocity, ughhhhhhhhh]?!?” Anyway, I get a lot of ads for doom bunkers.
Are we better than our past? "If the federal government insists on mass confinement for millions of people who have committed no crimes, it should at least do so with the dignity of a baseball diamond." OMG. Most brutally sarcastic thing I've read in ages. Bravo @californiajoe.bsky.social. 10/10.
Feds should give their migrant atrocities a common address: Manzanar
OPINION: Instead of spending massive amounts to build new detention centers, the federal government should just reopen Manzanar, contributing columnist Joe Mathews writes.
sfchronicle.com
The U.S. State Department only had to label six countries on the map of Africa and still managed to get every single one of them wrong. 🫠
State Dept. apologizes for mislabeling countries on Africa map
The map, part of a presentation Sunday at the AIDS 2026 summit in Rio de Janeiro, purports to show six African countries that are receiving U.S. health funding. It gets each of them wrong.
washingtonpost.com
I can't speak to the legality of how it was used in this case, but I do think stories like this make GrapheneOS (which works on Google Pixel phones) even more attractive to journalists and anyone who cares about civil liberties ...
Protester targeted by DOJ over phone-wiping ‘duress’ passcode
A security-focused mobile operating system, GrapheneOS, allows users to wipe their device with a “duress” passcode
freedom.press
Residents in the U.S. Virgin Islands are tired of the performative outrage about the need for more transparency & accountability in the gov't. For all the talk, there have been no substantial changes to the USVI's public records statute since it was enacted in 1921. freedom.press/issues/us-vi...
US Virgin Islands need transparency to weed out corruption
Use our action center to tell officials there to fix the territory’s archaic public records laws
freedom.press
Back in May, @shoton35mm.bsky.social was citied for allegedly stepping into the street while covering a protest. These are the sort of risks reporters take to bring you vital coverage. If you’d like to continue supporting Lexis and the rest of our staff, become a member today: lataco.com/join
Any doctors or medical pros here? Catch this week's episode of Medlines! I anchored this week with Dr. Alok Patel covering: 🚑 Lawsuit over use of ChatGPT in an emergency ❤️ New statin rules 💊 Oral GLP1 news 🐽 Smell loss + depression 🏥 MRIs and ... Legos?!? Wherever you get podcasts, inc. YouTube:
The ChatGPT Medical Lawsuit & Why Statin Rules Just Changed
YouTube video by Medlines
youtube.com
"One expert said no longer posting files that were previously made available 'may not be technically illegal, but it’s certainly not a best practice.'" In addition, about 40% of the requests open as of April had gone beyond the two-week window by which the records should typically be produced.
The LAPD has quietly stopped putting many public records online
According to a UCLA professor, public records related to the police department began disappearing from a Los Angeles city website last April, turning the LAPD into a “black hole of information.”
latimes.com
In @arstechnica.com, @rwhitwam.bsky.social looks at latest efforts by Google and others to combat deepfakes / AI disinformation: arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/t... Includes some Starling Lab perspective on why labeling fakes isn't enough, and why we must authenticate what's real. My take in nutshell:
In a first, Germany drew more power from wind and solar than from fossil fuels last year.
In Germany, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels
Together, wind and solar generated 44 percent of Germany’s electricity, while fossil fuels generated roughly 43 percent, according to data from the Energy Institute, a think tank based in London. The figures represent a major milestone for the German “Energiewende,” or “energy turnaround,” a national push to ramp up renewable energy and phase out gas, coal, and nuclear power.
e360.yale.edu
Exhibit A in why it's so hard to come up with a list of weapons to prohibit the police from using on press and protesters ... ... there's always another new weapon! 🫠
Schools are adding pepper-spraying drones to help combat active shooters
The plastic, nonlethal aircraft, which can smash windows and ram attackers, will be at the ready in a handful of schools in Florida, Georgia and Colorado.
washingtonpost.com
4,878 bias allegations against LAPD officers in 10 years. Only 3 (!) were "sustained," meaning LAPD acknowledged as valid. In a deposition, LAPD was asked a hypothetical: If an officer pulls over 2,000 people in a year and ALL are black, would it indicate bias? LAPD's official response: "No."
Thousands of complaints, few punished: How LAPD handles claims of racial bias
Studies have repeatedly shown that Black and Latino people in L.A. are subjected to police stops at significantly higher rates than white people. The rare case of an officer recently fired for alleged...
latimes.com
If you’re in Los Angeles, KCBS and KCAL are running a story on the amazing work of our area lifeguards this weekend. They ran my video of a couple rescues (posted earlier) and I got to say how much the community appreciates these local heroes!
Multiple swimmers rescued by Los Angeles County Lifeguards moments ago off Venice Pier. Craziest rip current I can recall in over a decade of living in the area. Absolute heroes!!! ❤️💪 Video of the intense rip and rescues in thread 🧵 👇
SB 423 would require disclosure of 911 calls and related records from the notoriously opaque, privately run immigration detention centers in California. An op-ed by FAC's Paloma Esquivel in @calmatters.org calmatters.org/commentary/2...
Opinion | Californians have a right to know about 911 calls from ICE detention centers
Most immigrant detention centers are privately run and shrouded in secrecy. A bill would make records of 911 calls from the centers public.
calmatters.org
Great work here by BBC and my colleagues at Starling Lab (where I'm still a fellow but not involved in this project). As a bulwark against AI deepfakes, you may have heard about "content credentials" for photo/video. This looks at proving source of written text, which is an underexplored challenge.
Did they really say that? Proving the source behind a claim in the age of AI
With trust under pressure from AI-generated content and misinformation, a proof of concept shows how claims can be linked to verified sources, so readers can check what was said and who said it.
bbc.co.uk
Crazy enough on a quiet/bougie street in an upscale part of Los Angeles ... ... but I regularly see it on a stretch of Washington Blvd (near Lincoln) where cars blast by up to 50mph. Clearly delivery drivers risking not just a ticket by parking there, but life and limb. For an order of pasta.
L.A. Material@lamaterial.com · 2w agoWhy is everyone parking on the Larchmont Boulevard median? L.A. Material’s Tomo Chien investigated the strange custom, speaking with locals and reviewing parking ticket data. What keeps drivers coming back to the median? Read the full story:
"Not only was LA the first testing ground for aggressive federal immigration enforcement, it also has a gruesome history of extreme violence by Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department against both protesters and press," @adamrose.bsky.social says.
Local Law Enforcement in Los Angeles Emerges Epicenter of Crowd-Control Weapon Misuse, New Report Finds
Law enforcement agencies allegedly misused crowd-control weapons at least 412 times during immigration enforcement protests across the United States between June 2025 and May 2026, according to a r…
latenfour.com
Sean Beckner-Carmitchel@acatwithnews.bsky.social · 2w agoNew photos and words from me at the Ten Four: Law enforcement agencies allegedly misused crowd-control weapons at least 412 times during immigration enforcement protests across the United States between June 2025 and May 2026. latenfour.com/2026/07/22/l...
New photos and words from me at the Ten Four: Law enforcement agencies allegedly misused crowd-control weapons at least 412 times during immigration enforcement protests across the United States between June 2025 and May 2026. latenfour.com/2026/07/22/l...
Local Law Enforcement in Los Angeles Emerges Epicenter of Crowd-Control Weapon Misuse, New Report Finds
Law enforcement agencies allegedly misused crowd-control weapons at least 412 times during immigration enforcement protests across the United States between June 2025 and May 2026, according to a r…
latenfour.com
In one of the dumbest arguments we've ever heard, a judge in New Orleans is trying to claim that "open court" means a judge is present on the bench, not that the courtroom is open to the public. 🤦♀️ pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incident...
U.S. Press Freedom Tracker@pressfreedomtracker.us · 4w agoInvestigative producer @dcmonteverde.bsky.social was handcuffed and detained by sheriff’s deputies after a judge barred WWL-TV and other media outlets from covering a court proceeding that revealed the indictment of Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill in New Orleans on July 2.
At least courts offering SOME backstop. Justice Dept normally has a 90% success rate. Now, about half of these 400 cases have unraveled. NYT article describes recent record as "abysmal." Still, all too often damage is already done. As cops say, you can beat the rap but you can't beat the ride.
They Were Charged With Assaulting ICE Agents. The Cases Are Crumbling.
The Trump administration has lost or abandoned hundreds of criminal cases against protesters and immigrants, a Times investigation found.
nytimes.com
18 states people mistakenly think are "sanctuary" actually have "extensive cooperation and coordination with federal immigration agencies when it comes to people convicted of serious crimes." Post-Biden, all but one increased rate of handing immigrants to feds. 12 of 18 more than DOUBLED that rate.
Trump Blasts ‘Sanctuary’ States, but Many Still Aid Deportations
A New York Times review of 18 states targeted by the Trump administration for their “sanctuary” policies found that all cooperate significantly with immigration authorities in cases involving violent ...
nytimes.com
Having your photo taken by Gary Leonard is an honor and rite of passage in Los Angeles! 📸
Do you work in medicine? If so, check out Medlines! This 10-15 min weekly briefing covers the latest research+headlines for busy doctors and other medical pros. Available on all podcast platforms. I'm one of the anchors. If you follow me for press rights, don't worry, I'm still doing all that too!
Aspirin vs. Blood Thinners, a 9-Year Endo Wait Ends & Cyclospora Hits Taco Bell
YouTube video by Medlines
youtube.com
We often say an informed public is vital to democracy. But information is also the lifeblood of business and international trade. These restrictions on journalists are self defeating and make the U.S. poorer in every sense of the word. What do you think the REAL reason for these restrictions is?
US to tighten visa regulations for foreign students, journalists
The new final rule from the Department of Homeland Security creates a fixed time period for the visas for students, exchange programs and media.
usatoday.com
