"Eight months before Cole Tomas Allen sprinted past a security checkpoint with his shotgun in an alleged attempt to kill President Donald J. Trump, he walked into Turner’s Outdoorsman in Torrance, California, and purchased the weapon, a Mossberg pump-action 12-gauge."

"Why are all the journalists laid off now" this is why. Pretty simple.

Populism

Huh. I always thought it was weird that my doctor dresses up like Jesus during my annual physical and lays hands on my forehead, but I guess that’s just the norm.

This is called “strategic defeat.” You have ended up in a worse position than before you began, with your adversary, while battered, emerging in a stronger position than before.

Just a remarkable story. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Here’s something Ron Johnson once said: “You know, there’s a reason Greenland was called Greenland. It was actually green at one point in time. And it’s been, you know, since, it’s a whole lot whiter now so we’ve experienced climate change throughout geologic time.”

Just received the following push alert from wapo: “The Interior Department reached a settlement to pay France’s TotalEnergies [$1 billion] not to pursue two offshore wind farms but direct the investments toward fossil fuels.”

Remember when the Obama admin invested $500 million in a solar company and the company didn’t pan out and GOP lawmakers and the conservative press said it was the biggest scandal of all time?

I continue to find it mystifying that lack of trust in media is portrayed as a consequence of the media’s actions, as opposed to a decades’ long conservative project—beginning w the Nixon admin—to discredit the media as a biased organ of the dem party. Ppl should revisit the watergate pressers.

"An additional 18 people reported P320 injuries in 2025, including...a Utah man shot through the penis on Valentine’s Day." Stunning reporting by my @thetrace.org colleague, Champe Barton: www.thetrace.org/2026/02/sig-...

If you want to buy and read a book written by AI, I’m sorry to say that there is no hope for you

My take on what has transpired in Minneapolis, published in partnership with @thetrace.org and @motherjones.com www.thetrace.org/2026/02/gun-...

"Trump’s federal thugs beat up on His face and his chest Then we heard the gunshots And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead Their claim was self defense, sir Just don’t believe your eyes It’s our blood and bones And these whistles and phones Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies"

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

Re: #3: This is not actually a new rule

What happened during the anti-covid lockdown protests?

Senator Markwayne Mullin on the purpose of the 2nd amendment: “Our founding fathers understood the essential role of an armed citizenry in safeguarding individual liberties and deterring tyranny. This right is a cornerstone of our democracy and must be upheld without compromise.” Did he mean it?

Ted Cruz on the 2nd amendment: “It is a Constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny — for the protection of liberty.” Does he still believe that?

What do gun rights advocates say is the purpose of the second amendment?

ICE’s attacks are the latest form of rightwing political violence. It’s just state sanctioned now.

It’s not just that. What’s happening now is the payoff after decades of theater in service of helping wealthy conservatives preserve their wealth. While they would not share the spoils, they bequeathed the right to commit violence, which provides its own kind of power, and now the chickens are home

The victim of today's ICE shooting in Minneapolis is the 5th person to be shot and killed by federal immigration agents since President Trump began his crackdown last year. This is the 19th time they've opened fire. We're tracking incidents here:

The basis of the gun rights movement, under the movement’s interpretation of the 2nd amendment, has crumbled before our eyes. As the gov’t turns arms against its people, the movement’s leaders, followers, legal scholars, and GOP allies have been silent. Ditto for SCOTUS’s conservative bloc.

What is happening in Minneapolis—an unaccountable paramilitary killing civilians in the streets—is the fulfillment of an implicit promise the GOP made long ago to its gun rights voters: one day they would get to commit acts of violence. This is an ICE problem, but more than that, it’s a GOP problem.

There is nothing for democratic lawmakers to do except travel to Minnesota and stand in the streets

All publications should stop quoting the DHS spox until what she says can be independently verified

The framing of the gun debate between the two parties has long been wrong. It is not pro-gun vs. anti-gun, but rather pro-violence vs. anti-violence. In the GOP's unwieldy coalition, in which the benefits accrue to the wealthy, the party promises the less fortunate the power of violence.

Nearly 15,000 NYSNA nurses from Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Montefiore, and NewYork-Presbyterian are on strike today because greedy hospital management have given frontline nurses no other choice.

There is no need, as a reporter, to let him--or any person in power--say this without interruption. We have all seen the video. We all know what happened. We can all see what's happening. You have to challenge their every word.

This is murder

The Trace has identified 14 shootings by federal immigration agents as of January 7. They include the shootings of three people observing or documenting ICE raids. www.thetrace.org/2025/12/immi...

Spot on, people

Quick, there’s still time to join the high school economics club

Trust in the media eroded bc of the Nixon admin’s approach to protecting itself during Watergate—saying the media lied + was working for Dems. This approach was then embraced by the GOP more generally, fanned by Fox, which literally grew out of the Nixon admin, + later opportunists like Bari Weiss.

1/Bari Weiss said this didn’t meet her standards, but in the wake of oct. 7 her site published a grotesquely offensive/inaccurate story about a photo someone took in an elementary school Arabic art classroom that did not include Israel on a poster of Arabic-speaking countries and then alleged….

Police recovered large capacity magazines at Brown, which allow a person to shoot for long periods w/out reloading. My latest story w/ @thetrace.org and @rollingstone.com: newly obtained docs show how the gun industry flooded the market with large capacity magazines www.thetrace.org/2025/12/larg...

Police recovered large capacity magazines at Brown, which allow a person to shoot for long periods w/out reloading. My latest story w/ @thetrace.org and @rollingstone.com: newly obtained docs show how the gun industry flooded the market with large capacity magazines www.thetrace.org/2025/12/larg...

It is time for publications to retire the phrases “pressure campaign,” which is a polite euphemism for extortion, and “kinetic strikes,” which, as far as I can tell, was literally just invented by this administration as a euphemism for extrajudicially blowing up humans on boats

Several days after the Brown shooting, and law enforcement still hasn't provided basic details like: how much spent ammo was recovered at the scene? were any magazines recovered? what type of weapon did the shooter use? eyewitnesses said they saw a rifle but some outlets reporting a handgun.

NEW: One of the most significant accomplishments of the Trump Admin: Decimating the US's humanitarian aid. We went to S. Sudan to see the effects. Rubio says no one has died from the cuts. Spoiler: That's not true. @annamaria.bsky.social & Brett Murphy: www.propublica.org/article/usai...

The Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the country’s leading gun rights litigation groups that seeks to eliminate gun bans in public spaces, has sent out a second fundraising email less than 24 hours after the Brown shooting.

My series, “The Secret Files of the Gun Industry,” is all in one place. Drawn from scores of industry records, the stories show that what the gun industry tells the public is often at odds with what it knows to be true. www.thetrace.org/projects/the...

Within hours of the Brown shooting, a prominent gun rights group sent out this fundraising email to supporters

I’ve been reporting on the gun industry + lobby for a decade. Whatever we learn abt what happened at Brown, this will be the ultimate truth: The only people who benefit from the status quo on guns in America are the people who make money from guns in America. Everyone else is an acceptable casualty.

must-read piece from @jenmascia.bsky.social

Ian Rogers, a car repair shop owner and gun rights enthusiast, was convinced he had to save America. In 2020, he initiated a series of domestic terrorism planning sessions. The gun industry’s sales tactics — playing up paranoia and glorifying combat — may have played a role in his radicalization.

Philly is about to embark on an ambitious affordable housing plan, hoping it will help reduce shootings in the years to come. It's the kind of long-term public health approach to gun violence that experts say city officials should pursue. More from Mensah Dean for @thetrace.org

🚨 new dataset alert 🚨 The Gun Violence Data Hub now features data on 78k active federal firearms licensees, which we've geocoded. Have also just added monthly data on the number of FFLs by type in each state. Check it out! datahub.thetrace.org/dataset/fede...

My series, “The Secret Files of the Gun Industry,” is all in one place. Drawn from scores of industry records, the stories show that what the gun industry tells the public is often at odds with what it knows to be true. www.thetrace.org/projects/the...