Brandon Smith @muckrakery Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 months

“The purpose of a system is what it does.”

Jesse Brenneman

@Jesse_Brenneman

3 months

One trick for critical thinking I recommend is if the behavior of a person or group defies all logic and seems like a series of baffling unforced errors that undermines their stated goal, try considering whether there’s a different goal that would align with that behavior.

30

812

3K

1

2

13

Last Seen Profiles

@yourfinegf

@HALO_of_JAPAN

@kennyn1u

@CandlemoreComms

@yackzilon

@TWrestlingGirls

@usavolleyball

@AntwainBanks32

@bussclown

@Teetey226627

@FE_Heroes_JP

@Its_Gslim

@JillFilipovic

@JimmyBa31366457

@pretzwell

@josebrito_

@wllwly5738442

@Forthleft2

@shubgaur

@iammaddi_

@ManCityBrazil

@Andrea_P2679

@BarstoolU

@yagmursarigul

@Kojima_oresama

@redbird2018

@AnhSketch

@Kenmabraham

@No___er

@RiickEstrela

@SavannahCastles

@LatinFire_NSFW

@MahiroYukishiro

@CinderellaKone

@OurGameMagazine

@kaimeariver

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

1 year

This interaction from an Amazon delivery driver is making the rounds on the r/Antiwork subreddit, whose moderators vet the authenticity of posts. One of the highest-engagement posts this year on one of the highest-engagement subreddits.

326

4K

28K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 months

cannot be overstated just how terrified the ruling class is of the fact that young people can bypass their carefully manufactured propaganda. if they can’t reproduce that indoctrination in every generation, the whole thing will fall apart, which is already happening

Pop Base

@PopBase

2 months

The U.S. House has officially passed the bill to ban TikTok if its owner, Chinese company ByteDance, refuses to sell the platform.

3K

4K

42K

29

7K

22K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

A band plays the Darth Vader theme amid a thousands-strong protest outside Trump Tower in Chicago.

137

5K

7K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 months

He alerted reporters the morning prior to doing it. He streamed his act live on Twitch, stating his purpose: protesting “genocide” against Palestinians. As he went up in flames he shouted “Free Palestine” This headline from the Times is an utter disgrace to my former profession

Chase Berggrun

@patriphobe

3 months

And yet. The New York Times obscures the reason. They try to deny and minimize his sacrifice. We will not let them. This man set his flesh on fire FOR PALESTINE. Honor him and his conviction.

96

1K

5K

142

3K

7K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Oil prices now at “negative values,” meaning oil producers have to pay people to take it off their hands and store it because when demand plunges (like now), that is less expensive for them than building more storage and/or shutting wells down.

Hanna J. Sender

@no_such_zone

4 years

@dataeditor well for one thing, the exchanges will have to adjust their code [article from last week]

4

43

167

178

713

4K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

To label @davidsirota , one of the country’s most intellectually honest journalists devoted to investigating political and financial corruption (who has at times left journalism for politics, always to return), as a mere Internet “troll” is to not be an honest journalist yourself

Jennifer Truth Over Phony Balance Rubin 🇺🇦🇮🇱

@JRubinBlogger

4 years

While he might perfunctorily chide his followers, Sanders hired one of social media’s most aggressive trolls, David Sirota. Sanders cannot possibly mean to control animosity spewing from his camp while hiring people infamous for such conduct.

2K

1K

3K

49

191

1K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

The only answer is the one the mayor of Camden, NJ took about 8 years ago: fire them all. Every last police officer, all at once, summarily fired. Replace most of them with social-worker types. Crime went down. Way down. Oh yeah—the cops’ union sued to reverse it. They LOST.

Joel D. Anderson 🆓

@byjoelanderson

4 years

New from @me : Police chiefs around the country wanted us to believe they were appalled by the actions of the officers in George Floyd’s death. But by the weekend, their officers made clear they had learned nothing. The police is incapable of change.

41

1K

3K

12

676

1K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

It JUST KEEPS GOING in Chicago (Chant: "build schools, not walls!")

20

864

1K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

It is not partisan to suggest that mailing boxes of masks to every resident seems like a thing a functional government would do, and that anything less is almost certainly a hallmark of a non-functional government.

eileen chengyin chow

@chowleen

4 years

We received a most precious package today: masks! Distributed free of charge from the Ministry of Health to all citizens - the beauty of its universal health care system. Thank you Taiwan 🇹🇼

21

126

774

10

359

1K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

Moment protesters learned all were released at Chicago O'Hare:

Just Lynnie

@Lynnie1004

7 years

@muckrakery

5

128

436

19

488

1K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

28 days

Identifying a FUCKTON of people to unfollow tonight. People who have conveniently forgotten that twelve days ago, Israel FLATTENED Iran’s embassy in another country Did you know that to find precedent for bombing an embassy, you have to go back 1000 years?

28

240

1K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Student politely tries to reference Biden’s declining cognitive abilities Sanders is even more polite, suggesting (maybe rightly so) that Biden’s nonsensical answers are more about not addressing issues head-on. Let no one say that Sanders is a departure from decency or honor

Kevin Gosztola

@kgosztola

4 years

At Fox News Town Hall, Nina, from Dearborn, Michigan, asked, "Some of Joe Biden's answers don't make sense. Do you think it's acceptable for presidential candidate to respond to questions like Joe Biden does?" Bernie Sanders answered.

21

222

682

24

198

1K

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

Yesterday the @FCC claimed the Internet "thrived" before net neutrality. I called propaganda. Here's my data to back that up—telecoms behaving in anti-consumer ways in 2005, 2005 (again), 2007-2009, 2011, 2011-2013, 2012, 2012 (again), 2013. This must be "thriving" to @AjitPaiFCC

9

1K

896

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 months

In the last month Israel has killed 0.45% of all Gaza residents But they’ve killed >50% of journalists in Gaza So, Israel has killed Gaza’s journalists at a rate 110 times greater than it has killed other residents. You don’t do that by accident. You have to TRY to do that

Ida Bae Wells

@nhannahjones

6 months

The lack of outrage within my profession for the number of journalists killed covering what’s happening in Gaza has been deeply troubling to me.

709

4K

20K

13

393

856

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

5 years

That said, I do have a Patreon, which helps. If you’re so inclined:

Get more from Brandon Smith on Patreon

creating independent investigative journalism

www.patreon.com

Ryan Grim

@ryangrim

5 years

The journalist who exposed the truth of the Laquan McDonald murder and ended Rahm’s mayoral career is waiting tables, while Rahm wafts into the warm embrace of liberal media.

65

3K

7K

5

313

731

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 years

How TF is @nprnews still covering this as a “gargantuan” “3.5 trillion dollar bill” and not mention how many years over which that is spread? Of course they still describe the DOD budget in annual terms

47

59

710

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 years

@bigbootyderek

0

15

633

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

The real heroes are the protesters. They go out despite claims "it doesn't work." Protest gets news; news gets results. Spread this message.

4

394

613

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

21% of black people in Florida can't vote due to a past felony charge. Remember that.

22

570

603

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

300 police shootings here since 2010 means Van Dyke was not a rogue officer. He is the product of a culture leaders have not moved to reform

35

696

570

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

Libraries: “a public rejection of the notion that knowledge should be contingent on what you can afford.”

Clint Smith

@ClintSmithIII

6 years

While public libraries are simply an abstraction to some, for many of us they were & continue to be a sanctuary, a community, a public rejection of the notion that knowledge should be contingent on what you can afford, a place where no price can be placed on the access to ideas.

76

3K

11K

2

152

564

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 months

I will never stop re-tweeting this. I’ll Un-tweet and re-tweet it every day until the shooting and bombing stops, AND we stop arming them. And I hope you do the same, and flood this entire forsaken Web Site with this horrific news

Ben Ehrenreich

@BenEhrenreich

6 months

Still unable to digest the fact that Israeli snipers were purposefully targeting children in the ICU of a hospital today. Looking through the sight and pulling the trigger, again and again and again.

281

10K

15K

2

331

474

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 years

@kenklippenstein @KassyDillon

Briahna Joy Gray

@briebriejoy

2 years

She JUST graduated from her masters program last year. To pay her loans off so quickly, she either never had much/any debt, or she got outside help. She certainly didn't "work her butt off" more than the rest of us. Call me when you've been paying $2300 a month for a decade.

117

327

3K

5

9

445

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 years

That’s *negative 58* degrees Fahrenheit

Bakhti Nishanov

@b_nishanov

3 years

This pro-Navalny protest in Yakutsk in the negative 50C absolutely blows my mind

836

14K

73K

16

105

456

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

Will, responsible for #LaquanMcDonald video release, posted this to Facebook as he was being arrested:

10

513

381

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

How many times can I retweet this

12

129

405

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

The worst part about being barred from the press conference that my lawsuit precipitated is that I can't ask Rahm questions about it.

39

459

386

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

JURY FINDS JASON VAN DYKE GUILTY OF SECOND-DEGREE MURDER IN THE 2014 KILLING OF 17-YEAR-OLD LAQUAN MCDONALD; GUILTY OF ALL 16 AGGRAVATED BATTERY CHARGES; AND NOT GUILTY OF OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT. #16shots

27

162

372

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

28 days

It’s been demonstrated time and again. If you use them as a source you are committing blatant journalistic malpractice

Read Let This Radicalize You

@JoshuaPHilll

28 days

Right now is a good time to remember that the IDF is not a credible source, on anything.

96

4K

13K

2

90

381

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

5 years

About a month ago, I sued the Chicago Police (again), this time to force them to release documents on the curriculum through which they teach officers at the academy. The public deserves to know what they’re teaching. And whether it’s changed since Laquan.

Fran Spielman

@fspielman

5 years

Lightfoot says police academy project is a “done deal,” but she’s not sure it’s big enough, particularly “on the fire side.”

3

9

10

5

126

342

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 years

Rahm Emanuel will have a confirmation hearing tomorrow in the Senate, for the job of ambassador to Japan. (The hearing is on the anniversary of Laquan McDonald’s death, whose murder Rahm covered up.) “Comprehensive guide” to Rahm’s utter failure as mayor:

The Definitive Guide for Cable Hosts, Bookers, and Editors to the Fraud and Failure That Was...

Rahm Emanuel wants to become a pundit. His track record of being wrong on everything makes him perfectly qualified for cable news.

theintercept.com

11

141

325

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

1 year

The only way to stop this is unionization—increasing worker power first & worrying about “economy” second. (If an economy isn’t serving its workers, what good is it?) Guess what @TheDemocrats did this winter, after all their pro-union messaging? They busted the railroad unions.

4

26

298

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

11 months

Yet another great piece of investigative journalism by undergrads with the Harvard student newspaper. It consistently puts out some of the most scathing, punching-up stories I’ve seen undergrads produce. The question I want answered is why. Harvard generally sucks. (A thread.)

Alyssa Harad is at the sky place. DM for invites.

@alyssaharad

11 months

Harvard installed a similar system in some of their dining halls. It worked great. And then they took it out bc they were afraid the kids who weren’t protected would sue.

1

172

687

2

62

303

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Purchased without public assistance, a single COVID-19 test can cost $3500. A study just showed COVID patients can recover from symptoms but test positive later, meaning each case will need at least two tests. Then there’s the cost of actual care—20% of cases require a hospital

11

132

252

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

Dude raising money to buy browsing history "of all legislators, executives, & their families & make them searchable"

19

185

252

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

Important today, the day after the #LaquanMcDonald /Jason Van Dyke guilty verdict, to remember that officers intimidated witnesses to this event we can now call “murder.” (1/x)

4

112

248

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

@lmlauramarsh @allshiny Did you see this post by someone who said "in 2300, the US has single-payer. Only three historians know why it's called 'gofundme'"

3

30

240

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

If you think reporting on #LaQuanMcDonald has to show "all sides," you're wrong. My latest a column in The @guardian

I filed suit for the Laquan McDonald police video. Its mundanity shocked me | Brandon Smith

The lack of sound in the recording and the perfunctory way the officers moved and behaved made a horrifying act seem normal

www.theguardian.com

29

254

235

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 years

Folks happy about making, say, $65K. I know I am, after decades of top-down class war. But do y’all realize that, when your parents, working (prob union) jobs in 1995, making $65K then… That’s equivalent to $126K in 2022 money. That’s how folks could afford to buy houses

5

68

248

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

5 years

Only circumstantial that I “ended Rahm’s mayoral career.” But if not for me, 20K people in the streets, & Chicago’s daily press—scorned in different ways by Rahm & myself... every story about Rahm’s political prospects for 3 years wouldnt have featured the name “Laquan McDonald”

Ryan Grim

@ryangrim

5 years

The journalist who exposed the truth of the Laquan McDonald murder and ended Rahm’s mayoral career is waiting tables, while Rahm wafts into the warm embrace of liberal media.

65

3K

7K

6

64

234

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

The person Pelosi chose to oversee the bailout programs:

David Dayen

@ddayen

4 years

So Donna Shalala's office, after insisting to me yesterday that she definitely, totally disclosed all stock sales she made in 2019, admitted to her hometown paper that she, well, didn't.

30

351

1K

5

57

229

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

Haunting video. Hordes of protesters descending on Trump Tower amid Chicago fog.

11

142

210

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 years

Police CRACK THE SKULLS of peaceful protesters. For these people? They just step aside. Police are not “law enforcement.” They are—not just first, but ONLY—a political force.

Frank Thorp V

@frankthorp

3 years

BREAKING: Protesters are on the Senate floor now:

2K

9K

15K

10

72

221

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

Waiting outside as the rest of Chicago establishment media get first access to the video I helped pry loose.

29

209

205

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 months

Fixed it, @AP . *Note: I can all but guarantee the journalists who reported this wanted the word “slave” in the headline, given what they found, and the bosses said no

7

69

205

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

@PoliteMelanie Amazing. Also no one should have to work three jobs to have a decent living and a family.

3

8

193

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 years

A dream of Aaron Swartz. Hits hard for a lot of us

ScienceInsider

@ScienceInsider

2 years

BREAKING: White House issues new policy that will require, by 2026, all federally-funded research results to be freely available to public without delay, ending longstanding ability of journals to paywall results for up to 1 year. Coverage coming on @ScienceInsider .

543

18K

83K

12

51

194

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

1 month

When all the people reading this are either elderly or dead, the world will understand this age—1990 to 2040, say—as one ruled by purpose-built mechanisms systematically siphoning purchasing power from a working class that had enjoyed it for the previous 40-50 years A regression

Hampton Institute

@HamptonThink

1 month

Capitalism has destroyed the family unit by (1) forcing parents into the workplace for 80-120 hrs/wk, (2) making basic human needs unaffordable, (3) forcing debt on all, and (4) equating human worth with $. Generations of children are left on their own to navigate this toxicity.

26

686

2K

7

58

201

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Enacting a mortgage moratorium without a rent moratorium is >transparent< hatred of anyone who doesn’t share your social class Sure you can’t evict them RN, but while you’re allowed payment-free ownership you just let some kind of “rent debt” pile up? You want interest? 🙄

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@AOC

4 years

2/3 of NYC residents are renters. Now that New York State has issued a MORTGAGE moratorium, we must also enact a RENT moratorium to prevent mass displacement. Relief and protection from displacement shouldn’t just be for homeowners and the wealthy. It should be for everyone.

877

11K

60K

4

44

189

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

@MeatMechSuit @transscribe OMG I HADNT NOTICED THE ARM

5

0

193

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 months

The full quote is: “Rome wasn’t built in a day but it burned in one.”

1

56

196

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

This is why you #sendtheinterns to the White House press room and beef up your investigations.

Ana Marie Cox

@anamariecox

7 years

Picking a dumb, unwinnable fight over crowd size makes me wonder what kind of shit they’re hoping we don’t notice.

64

551

1K

2

80

178

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Oh SHIT. Trump is 73.

17

34

187

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 years

Oh my god. Every news network needs to air this in its entirety to close a broadcast this week. She says “doing nothing will not stop the next one.” I would add: “If not now, when? You didn’t when the furor died down last time. Why should we trust this time?”

Mallory McMorrow

@MalloryMcMorrow

2 years

For the second straight day, the Michigan Senate GOP ended session early in a cowardly attempt to silence Democrats from speaking on the Senate floor about the slaughter of children in Texas. But we won't be silenced. Here's the speech Republicans were too afraid to hear.

1K

14K

40K

2

34

182

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

This. 2800 RTs in four hours. It can’t get enough.

2

52

162

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

5 years

Unfortunately, Amazon Web Services hosts like half the English internet. If a radical company wanted to boycott them, they'd have to shutter their site. And it's nearly impossible for a consumer to boycott sites AWS hosts because, how would we know? #monopoly

Tim Lyons

@Picketer

5 years

Workers at Amazon are striking for Prime Day! Respect the digital picket line and boycott Amazon on 15 and 16 July.

107

10K

11K

4

87

173

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

If the president of the Chicago police board—a position now-mayor Lori Lightfoot held for years—is getting the pulp beat out of him by police........ who ISN’T getting the pulp beat out of them by police?

Heather Cherone

@HeatherCherone

4 years

BREAKING: Hours after he praised police for their restraint, an officer struck Police Board President Ghian Foreman 5 times with a baton at a protest @wttw

433

8K

13K

6

62

170

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Someone hit their breaking point with Vox tonight and an angel got its wings

Caitlin Kelly: career journalist, writing coach

@CaitlinKellyNYC

4 years

I'm done. I don't need to hear ONE MORE asshole explaining to a stenographer pretending to be a journalist exactly why they are such an asshole. This is not news. Ignore them. Stop amplifying their bullshit.

1

25

214

3

15

161

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 years

And call me when you've paid 150% of original principal and you still owe 150% of original principal

Briahna Joy Gray

@briebriejoy

2 years

She JUST graduated from her masters program last year. To pay her loans off so quickly, she either never had much/any debt, or she got outside help. She certainly didn't "work her butt off" more than the rest of us. Call me when you've been paying $2300 a month for a decade.

117

327

3K

6

23

171

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 months

@blagojevism This is the real conspiracy theory. They know tying health care to employment means everyone is beholden to a member of the capital/ruling class and cannot dissent without extreme duress

2

16

176

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

5 years

When computer scientists everywhere scream “don’t trust us for this, use paper” .... You listen to them.

4

57

160

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

Nine seconds after police stood from their cars, #LaquanMcDonald was shot and on the ground.

9

261

160

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 years

My mother gets her second covid vaccine tomorrow. She’s ~60 and works daily in a primary school in Ohio. I feel like I just dodged a bullet. Thinking tonight of those who didn’t, & of the “leaders” who decided to let this happen, & how this inspires me to keep doing journalism

3

9

171

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

All kinds of columnists don’t deserve their ongoing columns, but this guy ABSOLUTELY does:

2

23

159

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

29 days

The fact that this tweet is shadowbanned (you can’t find it by searching its text) chills my soul

Gaza blog in bio

@comrade_sweezy

29 days

Here’s what was being said at the precise moment German police stormed the room (see video): “Surviving child w/ all his family killed… children deliberately denied food and water, starved to death and killed when rushing to get food. All means of life systematically destroyed—”

28

1K

2K

2

88

164

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

5 years

. @voxmediainc has been forcing freelancers (at point of contract) to keep their pay rates secret. Seems to me like talking about one’s pay is federally-protected activity. Calling on @IWWFJU to weigh in

7

47

151

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

This NYE news was not lost on the 11,000 families with immediate pardons for former cannabis "crime," nor the 105,000 more families who are eligible. I never thought I'd say this, but Gov @JBPritzker leads the nation. No other legalizing state did this—did the right thing.

WBEZ

@WBEZ

4 years

Gov. J.B. Pritzker granted more than 11,000 pardons for low-level marijuana convictions today. The pardons allow the state's attorney general to ask courts to formally clear or seal the records.

2

12

51

2

36

157

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

Lawyers at O'Hare say every detainee they know of has been released. Get some sleep. We're soldiers now. We need to be at peak performance.

98

44

145

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Imagine if Biden campaigned on House Dems mounting a real opposition, passing single-issue bills—money for JUST tests, or PPE, or hospitals or direct payments. Force the Senate to say “we oppose funding virus tests” Guess what Biden isn’t doing What the Dem-lead House isnt doing

5

30

151

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Michael Bloomberg, as mayor, ordered the destruction of 5,000 books at "The People's Library" at Occupy Wall Street. Fewer than 1,100 books were saved from Bloomberg's dumpsters. Someone who destroys libraries is unfit to serve as the Democratic nominee.

4

78

138

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 years

Odds are good that at least one MAGA today was actually a foreign agent and made a beeline for sensitive info in offices. Perhaps they installed key loggers to snag passwords when folks return to work Anyone know if Capitol IT told folks to stay off hardware until they sweep?

nxthompson

@nxthompson

3 years

What are the odds someone in the mob installed malware while inside the Capitol?

92

214

1K

3

79

147

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

CHRIST, he's not actually USING the Defense Production Act. Does he have any clue how many tens (maybe hundreds) of thousands will die now that we know we're on a worse curve than Italy? And does he have any idea how long it takes to spin up a factory to produce ventilators?

Elizabeth Warren

@SenWarren

4 years

President Trump, are your eyes stitched shut? Hospitals need test kits, ventilators, & other medical supplies. That's why the DPA exists. Stop dragging your feet & burying your head & start helping hospitals that are about to be slammed by this pandemic.

5K

10K

43K

5

49

144

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

My lawsuit & columns about Laquan McDonald ended Rahm Emanuel’s political career in Chicago. It’d be a middle finger to millions of Chicagoans to place him back in federal power. @JustinGlawe reported how Rahm covered up the video that I later forced out:

Lawyers Went to Rahm Emanuel, Then Quashed the Laquan McDonald Video

The mayor’s men demanded that dash-cam video be kept confidential for at least several years as part of a $5M settlement with Laquan McDonald’s family.

www.thedailybeast.com

3

54

144

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

3 years

Wow—a bunch of Chicago city council members wrote a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations committee urging them not to confirm Rahm, and citing a BUNCH of terrible things he did in the city:

Rossana Rodriguez 🌹🇵🇷✊🏽🏳️‍🌈

@RossanaFor33

3 years

On the anniversary of the murder of Laquan McDonald by a CPD officer, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is holding a hearing on Rahm Emmanuel’s appointment to US Ambassador in Japan. Some of us elected officials in Chicago decided to make our voices heard on the matter.

10

266

764

5

67

143

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 years

@davidhogg111 @OBEYGIANT Have you seen the gun vase? (Might be lost on a few folks who don’t know that flowers coming from guns is an anti-gun symbol)

10

23

136

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

This needs to be a front-page op-ed in every paper in Chicago. It's required reading for all of us.

1

152

133

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

The video I saw doesn't show police helping him at all. It ends before a single officer bends to help. Likely a minute of Laquan bleeding.

17

182

125

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

So I wasn't allowed into the press conference that I more or less inspired. But the story isn't about me. Seriously.

Reporter Who Forced Release of Laquan McDonald Video Is Barred From News Event (Published 2015)

Brandon Smith, whose lawsuit forced the Chicago police to release the video of the fatal shooting of Mr. McDonald, was blocked from entering a news conference about the release.

www.nytimes.com

12

127

129

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

Opening arguments start **today** in the murder trial of Jason Van Dyke, who killed #LaquanMcDonald . Van Dyke, the only CPD officer in memory to be charged with murder, wasn’t charged for 405 days—*after* I forced the city to release video of the shooting. Will post updates here.

7

56

117

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

College students were so royally shafted by this last stimulus that I can’t help but wonder whether it’s punishment for young people’s political views. They will remember this. This is how you radicalize people.

Boomer

@brandonboomer5

4 years

so if college kids get claimed by their parents as a dependent they aren’t eligible for the $1,200 stimulus package and since they aren’t under 16 they don’t get the $500 child credit either, not to mention most college kids are jobless right now. how is this ok?

707

35K

174K

7

46

134

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

TIL, by reading an open letter from the worker Amazon fired for organizing for safety: 1. He wasn't low-level; he helped supervise a group of "60-100" 2. Despite mandatory overtime, Amazon doesn't pay time-and-a-half for hours over 40—they just add $2/hr

6

71

128

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

Heard recently: “If voting didn’t matter, the GOP wouldn’t be working so hard to prevent people from doing it.”

Keith Ellison

@keithellison

6 years

Ya gotta vote, guys. Seriously.

245

2K

6K

10

74

124

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 months

This is why our society is failing. (By and large.) The “I’m just following orders” excuse has become “I have a fiduciary duty to the shareholders.” And the totality of its outcomes is demonstrably worse than the outcomes from the first excuse.

Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK

@doctorow

2 months

As someone who writes a lot of fiction about corporate crime, I naturally end up spending a lot of time being *angry* about corporate crime. It's pretty goddamned enraging. 1/

38

571

2K

1

29

136

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

“EACH ONE OF Y’ALL ONE BY ONE. ONE BY ONE. EVERYTHING CHANGES AFTER TODAY. ... I DON’T CARE HOW MAD Y’ALL LOOK.” <<< Will Calloway, who helped me release the #LaquanMcDonald video, directly addresses police outside the courthouse where Jason Van Dyke was just convicted. #16shots

1

54

130

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

Murder charge. Police chief sacked. DOJ civil rights investigation. Head of police review authority quits. All this from two FOIAs. #FOIA

8

88

120

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

8 years

Protesters & reporters can take a lesson from recent events: facts rule. Like the fact that Rahm shut half of Chicago's mental health care.

5

119

120

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

You really can't spread this knowledge enough

Bradd Jaffy

@BraddJaffy

7 years

Including 9/11, all deadly US terror attacks since 2001 were done by US citizens or people from countries not in ban

147

4K

6K

1

51

119

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 years

“This is not the time to celebrate. Now is the time to take the streets & demand the internment camps are stopped or start demanding the fall of the regime.”

Anonymous

@YourAnonCentral

6 years

This is not the time to celebrate. Now is the time to take the streets & demand the internment camps are stopped or start demanding the fall of the regime. Today was not a victory. Today was a call to action. Today is your day. #AbolishICE #EndFamilySeparation #ExecutiveOrder

11

55

83

1

52

117

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

The possible consequences of letting a single billionaire control our documented history can almost always be worse. See:

The Intercept

@theintercept

7 years

Almost overnight, YouTube shut down 900 groups and individuals documenting the civil war in Syria.

10

367

234

0

79

118

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

If the low bound of CDC projections hold true, we will need to double our hospital beds (from 540K to ~1M) over the next few months. Perfect solution right here:

David Dayen

@ddayen

4 years

If you want to "bail out" hotels, pay them a set rate to use all their rooms as quarantine and emergency care units indefinitely

15

244

1K

1

39

122

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

5 years

"The American Dream makes us believe people are only worth what they achieve. If everybody gets what they deserve, we should treat people based on what happens to them. Success makes you some kind of saint, a role model. Failure makes you a pariah—what we should try not to be"

2

40

122

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Whoa, what, @Chicago_Police ?? People who have been working in “close contact” with the officer who tested positive are still required to report, in person, for duty? You are endangering citizens’ lives and the lives of THEIR co-workers.

Patrick Smith

@pksmid

4 years

In department-wide email about first Chicago officer to test positive for COVID-19, Interim CPD Supt. Charlie Beck says "all members who work in close contact with this individual have been notified and advised to continue to report for work and self-monitor for any symptoms."

6

11

9

5

42

118

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Holy shit, @chicagosmayor . From Alderman Carlos: “If those with the money to do so can order UberEats delivery during a citywide curfew (then) the city should be able to continue to feed our babies during the day. ... Who is making these decisions?”

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa 🇵🇸

@CDRosa

4 years

Mayor Lightfoot's 9pm curfew exempts food delivery drivers for services like GrubHub and UberEats. If those with the money to do so can order UberEats delivery during a citywide curfew than the city should be able to continue to feed our babies during the day.

5

113

365

4

27

114

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

17 days

I keep saying: U.S. gov’t is not just complicit. It’s the sole enabler If another country had helped Germany this much in WWII, they would have stood at Nuremberg

The Daily Politik

@DailyPolitik

17 days

“Mass graves” “Patients found naked with catheters and IV’s still attached” “Doctors found, hands zip tied, shot in the head, still wearing scrubs and surgical gloves” These are descriptors of genocide. The US, UK and Germany are complicit in a genocide committed by Israel.

120

21K

39K

4

40

119

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

6 months

YES. OKAY. THIS IS THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE FROM A MEMBER OF CONGRESS. Producing a slick video showing how woefully out of touch Biden is on this, and ***THREATENING TO BACK OPPOSITION TO HIM FROM THE LEFT*** For the record, ONLY @RashidaTlaib has had the courage to do it.

2

15

119

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

7 years

Edward @Snowden had asked @POTUS to save Manning before himself. DONE. Now to ban using Espionage Act to prosecute any whistleblower.

The Guardian

@guardian

7 years

Barack Obama commutes majority of Chelsea Manning's prison sentence

12

237

284

4

39

113

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

Whistleblowers like this are courageous. He probably had savings, but he won’t work in the industry again. Unless it becomes M4A. Potter: “I recognize these arguments because I helped craft them when I ran PR as an insurance exec. I feel obligated to set the record straight.”

Wendell Potter

@wendellpotter

4 years

Last night, @JoeBiden expressed concern over the potential cost of Medicare for All & the security of people’s health plans. I recognize these arguments because I helped craft them when I ran PR as an insurance exec. As a result, I feel obligated to set the record straight. (1/5)

243

13K

35K

2

49

112

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

4 years

MI voters clearly want something Biden refuses to give them—so what happened? To loosely quote @ramsincanon , “Electability” did its job. The “Biden campaign” doesn’t exist in a meaningful sense—he has little campaign apparatus but does have cable news. This is the MSNBC primary

Political Polls

@PpollingNumbers

4 years

#MichiganPrimary Early Exit Poll: "Replace All Private Insurance With A Gov Plan" Support 57 Oppose 39 CBS

172

628

3K

3

28

115

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

2 months

@samfbiddle I think heads of FOIA offices who secretly hate their requesters fuck with the fonts often. Case in point, these labels, on a single envelope:

0

1

114

Brandon Smith

@muckrakery

5 years

At @DePauwU , @CondoleezzaRice lectures tonight, starting in 30 mins. Here’s the reception some students have given her as the public files into the speaking hall:

4

17

109