PS: @lapressclub.bsky.social hasn't increased dues, award entry fee, or ID-card fees in 20+ years. $104 for dues+ID now less than LAPD pass. And goes to nonprofit providing reporting grants and scholarships. Our ID has same legal weight as LAPD's when unlawful assembly declared. @nppa.org's too!

LAPD just doubled the fee for a press pass. Actually seems to be up 3.2x since just a couple years ago. 2010 = $16 2015 = $28 2016 = $30 (proposed, unsure if adopted) 2023 = $45 2025 = $73 (increased 7 months ago!) 2026 = $144 Importantly: LAPD press passes are NOT required in LA.

In not so great news, local freelance journalist Nick Stern @plasticjesusart.bsky.social, who was arrested on May Day by LAPD, just had his car stolen, with many important bits of gear and PPE inside. The licks just keep on coming—sharing a GoFundMe here for those who might want to support him

The @pressfreedomtracker.us has recorded nearly 200 LAPD press freedom violations involving journalists. On May Day, reporters were handcuffed and struck with batons. With the World Cup coming to LA, FPF's @adamrose.bsky.social challenged LAPD to prevent an international incident. Watch ⬇️

This might be the most LA thing to ever happen ...

In Europe this year, Facebook has 35 million community notes. In US? 900. Trump shot himself in foot: "Iran may be outgunned on the battlefield, but the country is holding its own in information warfare... promoting false military wins and sowing discord and confusion" like claim Netanyahu died.

Tomorrow (Thu) is the next hearing in LA Press Club v. Noem (now renamed LAPC v. Mullin ... basically DHS/ICE/CBP). It'll be lawyer arguments on rewriting PI (per 9th Circuit order) and class certification. IF YOU'RE GOING: Start time has moved up an hour. Now at 9am and should be done by 10am.

Press rights was a big topic at the Los Angeles Police Commission today. Great summation of LAPD: "Policy already exists. The court order exists. The state law exists. The question being put to the board, hearing after hearing, is whether the department’s conduct in the field reflects any of it."

I spoke in a Stanford electrical engineering class called "Designing for Authenticity" (EE292J), tackling trust in digital media amid rise of AI. Hadn't seen my Starling Lab colleagues in person for a while so we improvised a high five... but was it authentic?!?

To mark #WorldPressFreedomDay this Sunday, I wrote a short piece for @jamuseum.bsky.social's Democracy Center on importance of documenting history through #journalism. Quick way to catch up on problems on ground in LA and to illustrate why press is so critical to a functioning democracy.

“It’s not the role of the FCC or any other government agency to police any kind of speech,” FPF’s @adamrose.bsky.social tells the BBC News on Trump’s latest spat with Jimmy Kimmel, warning that government interference in late-night comedy and news threatens free speech and a free press.

The 2026 World Press Freedom Index was released a few minutes ago by Reporters Without Borders (@rsf.org). In 2002 United States ranked 17th globally. By 2013 we'd fallen to 32nd. Last year we were 57th. Today we sank to 64th. We're looking up at Botswana, Liberia, Ukraine, Armenia, etc.

Starting this week, California courts will be required to track civil arrests (ex: federal immigration enforcement) at their facilities. The info will be published on a public dashboard starting in July. I like it! A simple thing states can do to increase transparency. More should do the same.

"I wasn’t scared. There are hundreds of Secret Service agents hurtling themselves over tables and chairs, and I wanted to watch." Why not get down? “First of all, I have a bad back ... And No. 2, I’m a hygiene freak. There was no freaking way I was getting in my new tux on the dirty Hilton floor.”

I just went to Truth Social to confirm this is actually something Trump posted. It is … but I also noticed that Truth Social runs a full size ad in between EVERY SINGLE post. That’s insane grift.

This looks just like one of those kids on TikTok doing a Scientology speed run. (You may need to be from Los Angeles to get the reference.)

Is the most out of touch part … A) She is not the news anyone is talking about B) News people had been hyping this event for days as about themselves making news with Trump in attendance C) Welcoming Trump is the opposite of celebrating power of the press D) Other: ________________

No, that's not like Pete Rose (no relation) betting on his own team. That's like Pete Rose betting on when he would retire. If you have all the inside info, it's rigged.

I don't think Sabrina Siddiqui is on this site, so amplifying her reporting here that the U.S. State Dept says Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is out of Kuwait. 🎉 #FreeAhmed #JournalismIsNotACrime

Police training can't fix everything, but it is a prerequisite. Bare minimum. I've told LAPD brass for YEARS their training is insufficient, leading to press rights violations (esp. w/weapons). No surprise LAPD whistleblowers retaliated against for reporting similar. And again, taxpayers on hook.

I’ve been moderating Q&As after screenings for this documentary, which is about wild and well-funded efforts to upend the normally quiet world of local school boards. At the last screening, one of those people in the film showed up looking to upend the Q&A!

Tell me you failed 4th grade math without telling me you failed 4th grade math.

#Breaking Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been acquitted on all charges in Kuwait! I pulled an all-nighter refreshing Kuwaiti news sites. A group chat of 100+ friends and colleagues around the globe just about exploded when we found out. 🎉 HUGE thanks to CPJ @pressfreedom.bsky.social. ❤️

You know the FBI is off the rails if even lawyers in Trump's DOJ had to warn them that their retaliatory investigation lacked legal merit. Patel’s job is to fight actual crime, not to chug beers in locker rooms, file SLAPP suits against the press or baselessly investigate journalists. Full stmt ⬇️

“Our relationship with the working media … I don't think is as good anywhere in the country,” claimed LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. But journalists covering LA protests tell a different story. Watch FPF’s @adamrose.bsky.social push back, calling out repeated mistreatment of the press.

Everything about this reeks. DOJ had to warn FBI they had no legal basis to proceed against a journalist. Plus use of FBI HQ instead of field offices. (Note hypocrisy: Team Trump complained that this approach allows for political influence on investigations like Russian election interference.)

"For 17 years, HuffPost has attended the annual WHCA dinner... This year, we cannot stomach it. We’re skipping." - HuffPost Editor-In-Chief Whitney Snyder Coincidentally, 17 years ago Whitney and I were associate editors on the HuffPost front page. Proud to see this. Hats off to him and the team.

I noticed these drones at No Kings 3 while standing next to an LAPD officer as they arrested protesters (and press!) in the kettle. I asked, "Those yours?" He was junior and didn't know. But I figured they were given TFR around us (i.e., DHS got FAA to close airspace to drones, LAPD got waiver).

Move over, em-dashes! "It's not just x, it's y" construction is the new AI writing giveaway*. (*There's actually no such thing. AI is just imitating how humans already write. It might accelerate stylistic fads, but humans wrote certain ways before and after AI.)

Important decision!

Excited @lapressclub.bsky.social will honor Carol Sobel at our next awards. She's a longtime champion of press freedom and recently fought to stop violence against journalists by LAPD and DHS. Nobel Peace Prize winner @mariaressa.bsky.social will also be honored that night. Will be a great event!

Just sobbed hardest I have since my mom died in 2020. She missed these trials by a few months. One of most ruthless cancers. Hard to fathom that maybe she'd still be here. I feel such a hole inside. In case you're wondering if we should fund mRNA research instead of another stupid war ... yes.

The ant colony cordially invites you to a celebration of insects' rights in honor of Raid.

"While we can’t claim the mantle of leadership right now, the U.S. can try to reclaim some dignity if the State Department fights for the immediate release of Ahmed Shihab-Eldin from detention in Kuwait," FPF's @adamrose.bsky.social told MS NOW. #FreeAhmed

✍️ Sign the petition: Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is detained in Kuwait under new security and fake news laws. Demand Kuwaiti authorities immediately and unconditionally release him. ⤵️ cpj.movements.mov/pet/kuwait-r... #freeahmed #FreeAhmedEldin

I had the privilege of working with Ahmed Shihab-Eldin at HuffPost. Such a warm, sweet human being. We don't know what he posted that led to Kuwait detaining him, unseen now for six weeks. He's posted against Israel's war on Iran. Kuwait is against it too. None of this makes sense. #FreeAhmed

Good. They should be afraid. Both the creeps and their enablers. Sooner they're out, the better. I don't care which party they're in.

Hey! If you’re an LA-based journalist, there is a free screening of our documentary about school moms taking on Proud Boys and the far-right machine happening this Thursday in downtown LA at the LA Press Club. Moderated by @adamrose.bsky.social

Los Angeles. CA Anti ice protest. LAPD triggered a dispersal order and then violently arrested a number of protesters. Some were release a short time later. Officers also violated penal code 409.7. Intended to protect journalists, by threatening and assaulting journalists. @adamrose.bsky.social

LAPD is always whining to me they can’t do their job if press are too close. Allow me to introduce Exhibit A, disproving themselves as they throw a protester on top of a photographer and still manage to make the arrest. I can’t find snailb_photographing on Bsky. Go see their whole series on Insta!

If Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto was written as a character in a courtroom TV drama, nobody would believe it. With a backstory like this, the writers 100% would have to give her a story arc about a bonkers data leak. Unfortunately it’s all real. www.latimes.com/california/s...

Fed prosecutors in LA lose (yet again!) with BS charges of protester violence against immigration officers. Check out WILD quotes. If prosecutors call it "dangerous or deadly weapon" maybe they should criminally charge agents. Also... jury pool is sick of this! www.huffpost.com/entry/jonath...

LAPD misconduct has defunded the City of Los Angeles to the tune of $430 million. That will soar after new claims the past few months. Karen Bass has been an elected official 20+ years. As mayor she appointed the chief and entire police commission. She’s never said ONE WORD about this in public.

Plenty of reasons for 25th Amendment, but we shouldn't ignore how a geriatric president spent the WH Easter Egg Roll talking at children about losing hundreds of troops and our "dead country." We've known for years he's mentally unfit. Now it's just so naked. www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...

I can assure everyone that LAPD doesn't always shoot "less lethal" munitions at people's head. Sometimes they shoot at people's groin. (JFC... They're under a federal injunction that prohibits this conduct. Why do we NEVER hear about any officers punished?)

It’s TACO Tuesday. Thank God.

A second photographer in Los Angeles lost an eye to law enforcement "less-lethal" munitions while just taking pictures at protests. These weapons are supposed to be used ONLY for immediate violent threats. Marshall Woodruff and now Tucker Collins were armed with nothing but a camera.

Considering the papacy launched multiple CRUSADES against Muslims, you've know you've gone too far by historic levels when the Pope is like "WTF?!?"

Today is a good day to remember that Carl Sagan was as outspoken about the dangers of war and nuclear weapons as he was an advocate of space exploration.