Derek Johnson
@derekjjohnson.bsky.social
music lover, liberal, data scientist, community owner Minnesota Aurora FC, Itasca Society Minnesota United FC; find me left of the dial - usually at First Avenue or a soccer match
Oh look, the people financing America’s burgeoning fascist regime also want to genetically engineer babies. We’ve seen this movie before, haven’t we Dr. Mengele?
www.wsj.com/tech/biotech...
www.wsj.com/tech/biotech...
Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway.
Silicon Valley startups are pushing the boundaries of reproductive genetics, hoping to prevent diseases as well as improve chances for a high IQ and other traits.
www.wsj.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Oh look, the people financing America’s burgeoning fascist regime also want to genetically engineer babies. We’ve seen this movie before, haven’t we Dr. Mengele?
www.wsj.com/tech/biotech...
www.wsj.com/tech/biotech...
Beautiful night to stare at the night sky.
Zachary Field - Plymouth, MN
Zachary Field - Plymouth, MN
November 12, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Beautiful night to stare at the night sky.
Zachary Field - Plymouth, MN
Zachary Field - Plymouth, MN
View from my patio in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis.
November 12, 2025 at 1:57 AM
View from my patio in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
BREAKING: Following trial, Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, finds that Trump did not properly invoke federal law to call up the National Guard and "permanently enjoins Defendants’ orders to deploy federalized members of the National Guard to Oregon."
November 8, 2025 at 1:31 AM
BREAKING: Following trial, Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, finds that Trump did not properly invoke federal law to call up the National Guard and "permanently enjoins Defendants’ orders to deploy federalized members of the National Guard to Oregon."
So either the legislative branch immediately passes the CR to reopen the government or we learn just how cruelly the judicial branch will allow the executive branch to act
November 8, 2025 at 12:08 AM
So either the legislative branch immediately passes the CR to reopen the government or we learn just how cruelly the judicial branch will allow the executive branch to act
Post you from a different era (1990-ish)
November 7, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Post you from a different era (1990-ish)
Any organization this size that claims it can not exist without its founder* is a colossal failure. The board should be fired for malfeasance
*He’s not a founder. He gained that “title” as part of a legal settlement with the actual founder of Tesla.
*He’s not a founder. He gained that “title” as part of a legal settlement with the actual founder of Tesla.
Tesla shareholders overwhelmingly approved a $1 trillion pay package intended to keep Elon Musk in charge of the company for the next decade, as the automaker enters a new phase defined by bets on artificial intelligence.
Elon Musk wins $1 trillion pay package tying him to Tesla for a decade
In an era of skyrocketing CEO pay, the award is unprecedented. The deal sets up Elon Musk to become the world’s first trillionaire.
wapo.st
November 6, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Any organization this size that claims it can not exist without its founder* is a colossal failure. The board should be fired for malfeasance
*He’s not a founder. He gained that “title” as part of a legal settlement with the actual founder of Tesla.
*He’s not a founder. He gained that “title” as part of a legal settlement with the actual founder of Tesla.
Chris is one of my favorite journalists on the SCOTUS beat. I’ve followed his work since 2009. My subscription to his Substack is one of the best investment I’ve made. I highly recommend checking out his work and subscribing, too.
I know it's just me being annoying, but watch and see who gives credit to the journalists *actually* covering a story and who just writes something — with no sourcing or credit — for engagement. And remember that! Journalism costs money and the people who actually cover things need your support.
November 6, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Chris is one of my favorite journalists on the SCOTUS beat. I’ve followed his work since 2009. My subscription to his Substack is one of the best investment I’ve made. I highly recommend checking out his work and subscribing, too.
15 billion scams ads a day is 5.5 trillion scam ads a year. Meta’s internal efforts have removed 134 million ads. Now I know this is a mixed metric, because we don’t know how many impressions each ad had, but 134 million out of 5.5 trillion is 0.002%
They aren’t really trying to root out fraud
They aren’t really trying to root out fraud
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:27 PM
15 billion scams ads a day is 5.5 trillion scam ads a year. Meta’s internal efforts have removed 134 million ads. Now I know this is a mixed metric, because we don’t know how many impressions each ad had, but 134 million out of 5.5 trillion is 0.002%
They aren’t really trying to root out fraud
They aren’t really trying to root out fraud
If Meta suddenly allowed you to block ads based on a personal threshold for how likely an ad is to be a scam, what would you set as your threshold?
I’d personally set it to 0%. Meta thinks 95% is the right threshold. What do you think?
I’d personally set it to 0%. Meta thinks 95% is the right threshold. What do you think?
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:24 PM
If Meta suddenly allowed you to block ads based on a personal threshold for how likely an ad is to be a scam, what would you set as your threshold?
I’d personally set it to 0%. Meta thinks 95% is the right threshold. What do you think?
I’d personally set it to 0%. Meta thinks 95% is the right threshold. What do you think?
I nearly admitted to occasionally preferring the banter of realtime texting over talking in person because I find the bare hint of anonymity texting provides titillating…
like some goddamn modern cliche of a character better written in a Brontë novel…
like some goddamn modern cliche of a character better written in a Brontë novel…
November 6, 2025 at 6:53 AM
I nearly admitted to occasionally preferring the banter of realtime texting over talking in person because I find the bare hint of anonymity texting provides titillating…
like some goddamn modern cliche of a character better written in a Brontë novel…
like some goddamn modern cliche of a character better written in a Brontë novel…
OpenAI is really out there claiming their corporate debt should be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America. This is how oligarchy works. Privatize the profit, socialize the risk and cost.
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
Exclusive | OpenAI Isn’t Yet Working Toward an IPO, CFO Says
Sarah Friar says the AI giant could reach break-even quickly and would like government backstop on data-center investments.
www.wsj.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:07 AM
OpenAI is really out there claiming their corporate debt should be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America. This is how oligarchy works. Privatize the profit, socialize the risk and cost.
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open...
Trump was first elected in ‘16, and the VA House of Delegates had a 66R-34D split. The ‘17 VA HoD election broke 51R-49D, a loss of 15 seats.
Trump is re-elected in ‘24 with the HoD sitting at 51D-49R. Last night pushed that to 63D-37R, a loss of 12 seats.
VA GOP must hate him. 27 seats vanished.
Trump is re-elected in ‘24 with the HoD sitting at 51D-49R. Last night pushed that to 63D-37R, a loss of 12 seats.
VA GOP must hate him. 27 seats vanished.
November 5, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Trump was first elected in ‘16, and the VA House of Delegates had a 66R-34D split. The ‘17 VA HoD election broke 51R-49D, a loss of 15 seats.
Trump is re-elected in ‘24 with the HoD sitting at 51D-49R. Last night pushed that to 63D-37R, a loss of 12 seats.
VA GOP must hate him. 27 seats vanished.
Trump is re-elected in ‘24 with the HoD sitting at 51D-49R. Last night pushed that to 63D-37R, a loss of 12 seats.
VA GOP must hate him. 27 seats vanished.
Here’s my take - this SCOTUS argument is running long not because there’s a question of the tariffs being permissible under IEEPA, rather there’s a significant plurality looking to make new law from the bench.
November 5, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Here’s my take - this SCOTUS argument is running long not because there’s a question of the tariffs being permissible under IEEPA, rather there’s a significant plurality looking to make new law from the bench.
Justice Barrett worried that the tariff refund process would be a mess if the plaintiffs win this case. Maybe you should’ve stayed the administration’s actions upfront. It’s only a mess because SCOTUS allowed it.
November 5, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Justice Barrett worried that the tariff refund process would be a mess if the plaintiffs win this case. Maybe you should’ve stayed the administration’s actions upfront. It’s only a mess because SCOTUS allowed it.
David Byrne’s Who Is The Sky tour defies categorization. It is so much more than a concert. And it was beautiful and brilliant. The stagecraft from American Utopia is there, but the integrated video brought another artistic dimension to play with.
November 4, 2025
Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, MN
November 4, 2025
Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, MN
November 5, 2025 at 5:39 AM
David Byrne’s Who Is The Sky tour defies categorization. It is so much more than a concert. And it was beautiful and brilliant. The stagecraft from American Utopia is there, but the integrated video brought another artistic dimension to play with.
November 4, 2025
Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, MN
November 4, 2025
Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, MN
Cutting the ACA subsidies will drive up the uninsured rate. Which means come the end of January, the nation’s ERs will be slammed with uninsured patients as their care-of-last-resort. We’ve effectively built COVID and measles time bombs and are now just waiting for them to explode.
November 4, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Cutting the ACA subsidies will drive up the uninsured rate. Which means come the end of January, the nation’s ERs will be slammed with uninsured patients as their care-of-last-resort. We’ve effectively built COVID and measles time bombs and are now just waiting for them to explode.
You know how a saint needs a miracle in order to be canonized a saint?
Well, if hell exists and Trump wasn’t already fast-tracked to its VIP section, this is definitely the pure evil moment needed for Trump’s devil-canonization.
Well, if hell exists and Trump wasn’t already fast-tracked to its VIP section, this is definitely the pure evil moment needed for Trump’s devil-canonization.
The Trump administration will send partial payments this month to the roughly 42 million Americans who receive food stamps as the federal shutdown approaches its sixth week. The roughly one in eight families that receive SNAP may still be at risk of imminent hunger and financial hardship.
Trump Administration to Send Only Partial Food Stamp Payments This Month
The government said it would send the aid after a court ruled last week that it must preserve the program known as SNAP during the shutdown.
nyti.ms
November 3, 2025 at 9:12 PM
You know how a saint needs a miracle in order to be canonized a saint?
Well, if hell exists and Trump wasn’t already fast-tracked to its VIP section, this is definitely the pure evil moment needed for Trump’s devil-canonization.
Well, if hell exists and Trump wasn’t already fast-tracked to its VIP section, this is definitely the pure evil moment needed for Trump’s devil-canonization.
I wondered how many MLS clubs there’d be if their club-to-national-population ratio matched the big 5 European leagues.
If the MLS had the same club-to-population ratio as the EPL, there’d be ~113 MLS clubs
La Lige -> ~142 clubs
Bundeslige -> ~73 clubs
Ligue 1 -> ~89 clubs
Serie A -> ~115 clubs
If the MLS had the same club-to-population ratio as the EPL, there’d be ~113 MLS clubs
La Lige -> ~142 clubs
Bundeslige -> ~73 clubs
Ligue 1 -> ~89 clubs
Serie A -> ~115 clubs
November 1, 2025 at 6:13 AM
I wondered how many MLS clubs there’d be if their club-to-national-population ratio matched the big 5 European leagues.
If the MLS had the same club-to-population ratio as the EPL, there’d be ~113 MLS clubs
La Lige -> ~142 clubs
Bundeslige -> ~73 clubs
Ligue 1 -> ~89 clubs
Serie A -> ~115 clubs
If the MLS had the same club-to-population ratio as the EPL, there’d be ~113 MLS clubs
La Lige -> ~142 clubs
Bundeslige -> ~73 clubs
Ligue 1 -> ~89 clubs
Serie A -> ~115 clubs
Trump says a Venezuelan terrorist “connection” can be up to 3 hops away from you to make you a legal target for death. This means Trump is blowing up boats based on a 1 in 810,000 chance you know someone Trump claims is a “terroist”
A 0.00012% chance
Now let’s look at how Trump defines Antifa…
A 0.00012% chance
Now let’s look at how Trump defines Antifa…
November 1, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Trump says a Venezuelan terrorist “connection” can be up to 3 hops away from you to make you a legal target for death. This means Trump is blowing up boats based on a 1 in 810,000 chance you know someone Trump claims is a “terroist”
A 0.00012% chance
Now let’s look at how Trump defines Antifa…
A 0.00012% chance
Now let’s look at how Trump defines Antifa…
Well, back in my day we had 39.1” of snow in twin storms hitting the Twin Cities January 20-22, 1982. We only missed 1.5 days of school. Yes, while this is technically different - 1 storm vs 2 storms - it was functionally experienced no differently.
Sorry friends but it has to be done:
#OnThisDay 1991: The infamous Halloween Blizzard begins. The first flakes begin falling at 11:30am, and over next 72 hours 28.4" of snow snarls the Twin Cities. It remains the state's largest recorded snowfall in a single storm.
#OnThisDay 1991: The infamous Halloween Blizzard begins. The first flakes begin falling at 11:30am, and over next 72 hours 28.4" of snow snarls the Twin Cities. It remains the state's largest recorded snowfall in a single storm.
November 1, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Well, back in my day we had 39.1” of snow in twin storms hitting the Twin Cities January 20-22, 1982. We only missed 1.5 days of school. Yes, while this is technically different - 1 storm vs 2 storms - it was functionally experienced no differently.
With Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Trump’s escalation toward war with Venezuela, tell me why China wouldn’t take this opportunity to finally go after Taiwan?
And if the US abandons Taiwan, what current US ally will trust any security guarantee we’ve promised? Not sure even NATO survives.
And if the US abandons Taiwan, what current US ally will trust any security guarantee we’ve promised? Not sure even NATO survives.
POST EXCLUSIVE Pressured by the largest U.S. deployment off Venezuela in decades, Nicolás Maduro is asking friends Russia, China and Iran for help
Anthony Faiola @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @ilyushina.bsky.social and Ana Vanessa report
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Anthony Faiola @hannahnatanson.bsky.social @ilyushina.bsky.social and Ana Vanessa report
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
As U.S. ramps up the pressure, Venezuela pleads with Moscow, Beijing for help
Documents show Maduro drafted letter asking Russia for missiles, radars and upgraded aircraft as U.S. forces amass in the Caribbean.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:26 PM
With Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Trump’s escalation toward war with Venezuela, tell me why China wouldn’t take this opportunity to finally go after Taiwan?
And if the US abandons Taiwan, what current US ally will trust any security guarantee we’ve promised? Not sure even NATO survives.
And if the US abandons Taiwan, what current US ally will trust any security guarantee we’ve promised? Not sure even NATO survives.
Reposted by Derek Johnson
Two rulings may bring some relief to Minnesota’s 440,000 SNAP recipients, though it’s not clear whether the Trump administration will comply with the order. www.minnpost.com/national/was...
Judges order USDA to release food stamp contingency funds
Two rulings may bring some relief to Minnesota’s 440,000 SNAP recipients, though it’s not clear whether the Trump administration will comply.
www.minnpost.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Two rulings may bring some relief to Minnesota’s 440,000 SNAP recipients, though it’s not clear whether the Trump administration will comply with the order. www.minnpost.com/national/was...
Reposted by Derek Johnson
NEW: Trump admin ordered to distribute SNAP benefits, using contingency fund. A pair of rulings both found the effort to suspend SNAP payments is likely illegal, with one judge issuing a TRO on Friday.
Also: Appeals court rejects court's Bovino check-in order.
Today, at Law Dork:
Also: Appeals court rejects court's Bovino check-in order.
Today, at Law Dork:
Trump admin ordered to distribute SNAP benefits, using contingency fund
A pair of rulings both found the effort to suspend SNAP payments is likely illegal, with one judge issuing a TRO on Friday. Also: Appeals court rejects court's Bovino check-in order.
www.lawdork.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:18 PM
NEW: Trump admin ordered to distribute SNAP benefits, using contingency fund. A pair of rulings both found the effort to suspend SNAP payments is likely illegal, with one judge issuing a TRO on Friday.
Also: Appeals court rejects court's Bovino check-in order.
Today, at Law Dork:
Also: Appeals court rejects court's Bovino check-in order.
Today, at Law Dork:
It’s great to see the courts issued a temporary restraining order to make Trump use the legally mandated and funded $6B SNAP contingency fund to continue paying benefits in November.
October 31, 2025 at 9:25 PM
It’s great to see the courts issued a temporary restraining order to make Trump use the legally mandated and funded $6B SNAP contingency fund to continue paying benefits in November.