15 people in Minneapolis were indicted for “conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer.” The prosecutor couldn’t name a single instance in which they actually injured anyone, but insisted that didn’t matter.
Schuyler Mitchell
@schuylermitchell.bsky.social
assistant editor at mother jones 🌀 bylines in the intercept, truthout, the lever, the baffler, etc / DM for signal
The inability of @nytimes.com to properly credit other journalists (in this case Abby/us) is something that of course journalists feel most dearly. But it is absolutely indicative of the arrogance that leads the paper—which is great/I support—astray and weakens the trust that people have in it.
Abby Vesoulis@abbyvesoulis.bsky.social · last wk.Read my July 18 story for the original reporting that the New York Times didn’t link to... www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
SCOOP: I obtained a July 2025 police report that reveals a Homeland Security task force officer surveilling and tracking protesters last summer. The report doesn't state that any of these people were under investigation for any wrongdoing. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Records reveal how Homeland Security agents surveilled ICE protesters
Spokane police documents show a DHS task force officer tracing protesters' cars, identities, and whereabouts without alleging any wrongdoing.
motherjones.com
NEW: Public records shared with Mother Jones show a DHS task force officer tracing protesters’ cars, identities, and whereabouts without alleging any wrongdoing.
Records reveal how Homeland Security agents surveilled ICE protesters
Spokane police documents show a DHS task force officer tracing protesters' cars, identities, and whereabouts without alleging any wrongdoing.
motherjones.com
This administration’s embrace of conspiracy theories mirrors the growing weaponization of conspiracy charges: Both obfuscate where true power lies.
Why Trump wants you to think all dissent is a “conspiracy”
What Pizzagate, election fraud lies, and Trump’s crackdown on antifa have in common.
motherjones.com
For the upcoming print issue of Mother Jones, I wrote a short essay on the word CONSPIRACY—and what Pizzagate, election fraud lies, and Trump’s crackdown on antifa all have in common. You can read it online today. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Why Trump wants you to think all dissent is a "conspiracy"
What Pizzagate, election fraud lies, and Trump’s crackdown on antifa have in common.
motherjones.com
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, voted 70 percent for Trump in 2024. But when ICE bought an empty warehouse to turn into a “mega” detention center, coal-country locals fought back—fueled by decades of being treated as a "dumping ground."
How the threat of an ICE detention center galvanized a Trump-country coal town
“We do deserve better than a plethora of data centers, detention centers, warehouses, biosolids processing plants, massive landfills.”
motherjones.com
DHS has denied keeping a database of anti-ICE protesters. But I reviewed a new letter, in which ICE told @edmarkey.bsky.social it doesn't manage the "Terrorist Screening Dataset"—which is something totally different and not what anyone asked about. So...what's the deal with the database?
ICE finds a new way to dodge Congress about a secret protester database
New letters show ICE shifting its rhetoric—and Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Max Frost demanding answers.
motherjones.com
The FBI used software from the Israeli firm Cellebrite to secretly extract data from the phones of 13+ ICE protesters. A month later, the feds charged nine people with “conspiracy to impede or injure” officers. -via @schuylermitchell.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Public records show FBI secretly extracted data from ICE protesters’ phones
Previously unreported documents reveal “extractions” from at least 13 devices after a Washington state protest last June.
motherjones.com
“This is one of the first pages in the authoritarian’s playbook," said Tom Bowman of @cdt.org. "Identify the people who disagree with you by surveilling their free speech and association rights, and then conduct further surveillance to intimidate or suppress their speech.”
Schuyler Mitchell@schuylermitchell.bsky.social · last mo.SCOOP: I obtained documents revealing the FBI used Cellebrite to extract data from at least 13 protesters' phones after a mass arrest at an anti-ICE protest in Spokane last summer. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Public records show the FBI used software from the Israeli firm Cellebrite to secretly extract data from the phones of at least a dozen protesters.
Public records show FBI secretly extracted data from ICE protesters' phones
Previously unreported documents reveal “extractions” from at least 13 devices after a Washington state protest last June.
motherjones.com
SCOOP: I obtained documents revealing the FBI used Cellebrite to extract data from at least 13 protesters' phones after a mass arrest at an anti-ICE protest in Spokane last summer. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Public records show FBI secretly extracted data from ICE protesters' phones
Previously unreported documents reveal “extractions” from at least 13 devices after a Washington state protest last June.
motherjones.com
A lawsuit, filed by Protect Democracy on behalf of Maine residents, centers on statements made by federal agents—including some caught on camera—warning people they would be added to a domestic terrorist database simply for observing immigration operations.
DHS is getting sued for the truth about its "domestic terrorism watchlist"
The agency denies keeping ICE protesters in a database of terror threats—which makes certain incidents very hard to explain.
motherjones.com
interesting rationale from a prospective juror in the Elon Musk Twitter stock manipulation case
Happy May Day! I chatted with @erikloomis.bsky.social about general strikes: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
So you want to organize a general strike
Trump opponents are marking May Day with walkouts, boycotts, and marches. What's the next step?
motherjones.com
@schuylermitchell.bsky.social breaks down the controversial bill at the link below ⬇️
Congress is in chaos over a surveillance law—but the full story is classified
Trump said he was against the FISA spy program. Then he got back into office.
motherjones.com
Should the federal government need a warrant to spy on US citizens? According to most interpretations of the Fourth Amendment, the answer is a simple yes. But for nearly two decades, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) has created a nifty loophole. 🧵
Congress is in chaos over a surveillance law—but the full story is classified
Trump said he was against the FISA spy program. Then he got back into office.
motherjones.com
A little more than a year ago, @paperwords.bsky.social received a letter from the US Forest Service detailing plans for a new wildfire recovery project. But a single word caught his eye—and alerted him to a secret, Big Tobacco-style campaign with ramifications for our forests.
We are bombarding America’s forests with Roundup
Scientists are wary of glyphosate. MAHA loathes it. And our investigation shows California is spraying it everywhere.
motherjones.com
It’s Earth Day, so seriously, check out these bald eagles.
Justin Bieber’s Coachella Livestream Was Fine But Have You Seen These Birds
It's Earth Day, so seriously, check out these bald eagles.
motherjones.com
Today @motherjones.com is rolling out “Power Hungry,” our package on the AI oligarchs who are upending communities and destabilizing democracy in their quest for a new level of intelligence—and riches. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How the AI oligarchy devoured America
How the AI oligarchy devoured America.
motherjones.com
Two years ago, we devoted an entire issue to the rise of a new American oligarchy. Since then, this system has only become more entrenched, ever concentrated around a crew of tech titans going all in on AI. Our newest cover story investigates these new AI overlords and their consolidation of power.
How the AI oligarchy devoured America
How the AI oligarchy devoured America.
motherjones.com
But could this same technology soon outsmart us all? That’s a real concern among some tech bros who want to create baby geniuses to protect us from the threat of AI. @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social reports on the new wave of Silicon Valley–backed gene-editing startups straight out of “Brave New World.”
Creating baby geniuses to thwart the AI threat? (Yes, really.)
The new wave of Silicon Valley–backed gene-editing startups is straight out of “Brave New World.”
motherjones.com
Since last December, I have been obsessed with how AI has influenced polling and survey research, here is the tl;dr 1- Some researchers are using "silicon respondents" (AI bots) to simulate human responses 2- AI bots have gotten so advanced they can evade detection in some online surveys
Polling has an AI respondent problem
Democracy doesn't know what's coming.
motherjones.com
“I think women’s sports always really activated the global right because of what sports success says about women’s independence.” Fascinating interview on the IOC's gender testing decision with historian @michaelwaters.bsky.social, by @schuylermitchell.bsky.social:
The ugly history behind the Olympics’ new gender test
How Nazi-era fears about gender gave rise to sex testing—and why the policy is resurfacing now.
motherjones.com
Chatted with the brilliant @michaelwaters.bsky.social about the new sex testing policy at the Olympics—which is really a revival of an earlier regime of gender surveillance & control. His book, The Other Olympians, traces this history to the 1936 Games in Berlin. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The ugly history behind the Olympics’ new gender test
How Nazi-era fears about gender gave rise to sex testing—and why the policy is resurfacing now.
motherjones.com
Stories about life inside ICE's family detention center in Dilley, Texas, are hard to come by. But @julialurie.bsky.social reviewed hundreds of pages of sworn oral declarations given by detained children and their parents about conditions at the facility. This is Dilley, in their own words:
Wormy food, intimidating guards, sick kids: Inside ICE’s only family detention center
First-person accounts paint a bleak picture of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.
motherjones.com
We started a major war whose goal after a month is now to fix something that was only a problem caused by starting the war
Aman Batheja@amanbatheja.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe “main goal” of the Iran War may have changed, reports Washington Post: “Israeli officials said securing the [Strait of Hormuz] for energy shipments could become the war’s main goal now that regime change and ending Iran’s ability to obtain a nuclear weapon seem out of reach.”
NEW from @schuylermitchell.bsky.social: In a now-viral video, an ICE agent suggested to a Maine observer that she'd was going to be added to a domestic terrorism database. It wasn't until DHS was sued that the agency reminded ICE agents about the existence of the First Amendment.
DHS waited until it was sued to remind ICE agents about the First Amendment
New legal filings reveal an internal scramble over an alleged “domestic terrorism” database.
motherjones.com
NEW: Legal filings and emails reviewed by me reveal an internal scramble at DHS over its alleged “domestic terrorist” database of ICE observers. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
DHS waited until it was sued to remind ICE agents about the First Amendment
New legal filings reveal an internal scramble over an alleged “domestic terrorism” database.
motherjones.com
SCOOP: The #1 "Justice Facility" architecture firm in the country, DLR Group, has committed not work on ICE detention or deportation facilities, after workers raised ethical objections to a deal to turn an an old private prison in Oklahoma into a new ICE jail. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Top architecture firm won’t design more ICE prisons after employees revolt
They thought their firm focused on humane design. Then they learned of the private detention center contract.
motherjones.com